1. Activity A Activity B Activity C Activity D Activity E Activity F
Welsh writing in English
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Choose a task
Choose a task based on the poem.
Activity A
Activity B
Activity C
Activity D
Activity E
Activity F
Activity G
Activity H
Glossary 1
Glossary 2

2. Welsh writing in English Activity A
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity A
What impression does Marvell give of the woman in ‘To His Coy Mistress’?
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To His Coy Mistress
Is she presented as willing or unwilling?

3. Welsh writing in English Activity B
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity B
Including some evidence from Marvell’s poem, why might the woman in ‘From his Coy Mistress’ say: “I think I will become a nun”?
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From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
To His Coy Mistress
What behaviour by the man in Marvell’s poem might tempt her to become a nun?
What does the word ‘purge’ imply about her feelings towards men on ‘Some days’?
Why might she ‘kneel’ and ‘pray’ and ‘chant a lot’?

4. Welsh writing in English Activity C
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity C
What do the book titles imply about the woman’s state of mind in her potential vocation as a nun?
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From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
Why is she thinking about flirtation?
Why might ‘love’ and ‘sin’ appear in the same title?

5. Welsh writing in English Activity D
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity D
What do stanza 3 and the first line of stanza 4 reveal about the woman’s thoughts and feelings?
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From his Coy Mistress
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
What kind of woman does the poem suggest she thought she was? What contrast is suggested between these five lines and stanzas 1 and 2?
How many times is the pronoun ‘I’ repeated in these five lines, and what effect does this have?

6. Welsh writing in English Activity E
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity E
In Marvell’s poem, the man imagines a future with a marble vault where the body of his mistress decays. In Deryn Rees-Jones’s poem, how does the woman imagine her own body in one hundred years’ time?
Menu
From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
To His Coy Mistress
Consider the words shaded in yellow. Click to show shading.
How does the woman hope the man will respond?
What contrasting ideas are linked by alliteration?

7. Welsh writing in English Activity F
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity F
Track the verb tense or the time referred to in each stanza, explaining the poet’s choice in each case.
Menu
From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
Consider the words shaded in blue. Click to show shading.

8. Welsh writing in English Activity G
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity G
How far does the woman presented in Marvell’s poem match the woman presented in Deryn Rees-Jones’s poem?
Menu
From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
To His Coy Mistress
In what ways is the woman presented in the modern poem similar to the other poem?
In what ways is the woman presented in the modern poem different to the other poem?

9. Welsh writing in English Activity H
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Activity H
How far does the poet’s reading of this poem, and comments on it, affect your understanding?
Menu
From his Coy Mistress
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
Listen carefully to the way the poem is read – the use of intonation, tone of voice, suggestions of humour, timing.

10. Welsh writing in English Glossary 1
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Glossary 1
Click on the highlighted words to show their meaning
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From his Coy Mistress
shy, modest
Some days I think I will become a nun,
book in a convent miles away,
cut off my hair, and dress in black
wanting to purge myself of men.
I’d kneel and pray and chant a lot,
lie in a narrow bed,
devising titles of unwritten books:
A Semiotics of Flirtation. Love:
Some Concepts of the Verb ‘To Sin’.
One thing’s for sure. By wanting you,
I’m not the woman that I think I am.
I cannot eat or sleep at all,
just think about your lovely mouth
the eerie moonlight and the Northern seas.
And hope my body’s still the temple
that you’d come upon, by chance,
to excavate, a hundred years from now,
burn incense in, and dance and sing,
oh, yes and weeping, worship in.
rid (the soul or body) of unwholesome thoughts etc.
inventing, thinking up
playful behaviour that indicates a romantic interest in someone
human communication
to act in a way that breaks a moral code or religious teaching
feeling a need or desire for
strange and disturbing or frightening
a building in which people worship

11. To His Coy Mistress – Glossary
Welsh writing in English
From his Coy Mistress
– Deryn Rees-Jones –
Glossary 2
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To His Coy Mistress – Glossary
mistress = a female loved by a man (in Marvell's time)
coyness = modesty, shyness
Time’s wingèd chariot = time drives a racing chariot which has wings for extra speed
yonder = in that place or over there
vault = an underground chamber used as a burial tomb
quaint = old-fashioned, unusual
hue = colour, tint or shade
transpires = releases/breathes out
amorous = refers to love, especially sexual love
devour = eat up greedily/use up greedily
languish = spend time in hardship or discomfort
slow-chapped = slow jawed (slowly devouring time)
intertextuality = the interrelationship between texts, especially works of literature; the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other: the intertextuality between two novels with the same setting Source: