In his poem, "A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body", Andrew Marvell uses intense imagery, unconventional structure, and personification to portray the body and soul as enemies who represent the conflicts between human spirituality and human instinct. Body and Soul are typically viewed as two entities that are codependent on one another, but they entrap and torture each other in this poem. Marvell personifies Body and Soul, and he allows them to debate back and forth throughout the poem. The poem presents the reader with a question: are humans just bodies who are meant to live naturally without a soul to dictate it, or are they souls that are trapped inside of a body and locked in its constraints? Marvell deliberately ends the poem without a clear "winner", allowing the reader to decide for himself.
             Marvell structures the poem in the form of a debate between the body and the soul, creating an aggressive, combative tone. There are four stanzas, and each section is divided into ten lines with a repeating rhyme scheme (AA, BB, CC, DD, EE), which adds to this tone by creating a melodic, conversational flow. The Soul begins the debate by using very intense and powerful language to express the frustration it feels. It feels imprisoned and tortured by the body. Marvell uses very intense imagery: "A soul hung up, as 'twere, in chains/ Of nerves, and arteries, and veins" (7-8). This imagery gives the reader a disturbing image of a soul chained by human body parts, and it shows how trapped and constrained the soul feels inside of the body. Marvell uses paradoxes as well: "Here blinded with an eye; and there Deaf with the drumming of an ear" (5-6). These paradoxes illustrate the Soul's doubt of the Body's judgment. The Body can only see and hear that which is in the physical world, and It's perception is flawed and limited. Marvell's use of alliteration and specif...