To his Coy Mistress by Andrew

Marvell
1. Images of Death in “To His Coy Mistress”.

2. “But at my back I always hear...” Explain this line as the poet’s major concern in To
His Coy
Mistress.

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” Marvell’s best known poem, was composed at
an unknown date and published posthumously in 1681. The poem is considered an
exemplar of the carpe diem form, in which the speaker urges the addressee to act
swiftly and boldly in pursuit of pleasure, given the fleeting nature of human life. In “To
His Coy Mistress,” the speaker urges his mistress to submit to desire and sleep with
him. He argues that if she continues in her coy behaviors, they will grow too old for love,
and Time, whom Marvell personifies, will defeat them. The poem is written in rhymed
couplets of iambic tetrameter and is divided into three stanzas, indicated by
indentations. The poem is divided into three stanzas, the first of which is devoted to
establishing the problem the speaker perceives and flattering his mistress. In the
second and third stanzas, the speaker emphasizes the urgency of the matter and calls
his mistress to action.
In the opening two lines, the speaker indirectly calls his mistress’s “coyness” a “crime”:
he remarks that if they had more time, it would not be wrong for her to make him wait.
Through imagery of rivers around the world (the Ganges in India and the Humber in
England), he illustrates the “long love’s day[s]” that they could pass together if they had
the time. Additionally, he demonstrates his hypothetical willingness to tolerate her
coyness if their lifespan were longer by using biblical allusions: he states that his love
for her would begin “ten years before the flood,” an event described in Genesis, and that
she could continue to refuse him “till the conversion of the Jews,” an event that many
Christians believe will signal the end of the world. He then flatters her with a literary
blazon, claiming that if he had the time, he could devote “an age at least” to admiring
every part of her body, such as her eyes, forehead, and breasts. His praise of her would
culminate in admiration of her heart.

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 Through all of this, the speaker seems to validate his mistress’s coyness, implying that
her beauty should give her the right to be as coy as she chooses. However, as he
begins to explain in the next twelve lines, they do not have the luxury of infinite time and
cannot wait forever to move on to physical love. In this stanza, the speaker explains in
greater detail the problem he hints at in the first two lines of the first stanza: his lady’s
coyness is a “crime” because “Time’s wingèd chariot [is] hurrying near.” Time limits their
lifespans and, therefore, the amount of time they can spend loving each other. It is in
this stanza that the poem’s “carpe diem” theme comes into play. The speaker attempts
to convince his mistress to disregard her “long-preserved virginity” and “quaint honour,”
for all this will be nullified by death anyway. His description of her sense of honor as
“quaint” is yet another appeal to logic, as he tries to convince her that it is old-fashioned
and thus unnecessary. They should submit to their desires immediately, he explains,
because death will steal away her beauty and his admiration and lust.
In the third stanza, the speaker completes his syllogism by offering a solution to the
problem of his mistress’s coyness and providing a greater sense of urgency. He
attempts to persuade her to give up her coyness and “sport” while they are still
passionate and exhibit “the youthful hue.” He uses several images with violent
connotations to attempt to spur her to action, such as “birds of prey” and “tearing . . .
pleasures with rough strife.” In approaching their relationship in this way, they can
“make [Time] run.”
“To His Coy Mistress” exhibits several characteristics of the metaphysical poetic
tradition. Metaphysical poets often use highly metaphorical diction and striking,
unconventional comparisons and images to carry their argument, and this is certainly
true of Marvell in this poem. Some of the most unusual images of the poem come in the
second stanza, where the speaker illustrates death: he writes that “worms shall try” his
mistress’s “long-preserved virginity” and that her “honour” and his “lust” shall turn to
“dust” and “ashes.” The image of virginity and love decomposing in the grave is
unusual, if not disconcerting. Additionally, the speaker uses violent imagery in the third
stanza, suggesting that they “tear [their] pleasures with rough strife / Through the iron
gates of life” and urging a passionate and arguably disturbing pursuit of pleasure. The
violent diction in the final stanza comes across as surprising, especially considering the
fact that the speaker aims to seduce his mistress. Because of its appeals to logic,
unusual comparisons and images, and urgency, Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” is
considered a quintessential example of both carpe diem and metaphysical poetry.

Literary Devices

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 "To His Coy Mistress" employs a device called apostrophe, which is when a speaker
addresses a specific person or figure who is absent and thus who does not respond.
The speaker directly addresses "His Coy Mistress," a woman with whom he wants to
make love but who has apparently been rebuffing his advances out of concern for her
"honour."

Marvell makes a number of allusions—references to other persons, places, events, or

texts—to furnish the speaker's attempts to convince his mistress of his sincerity and
sound thinking. The speaker mentions the Ganges River in India and the Humber River
in England, noting that he and his beloved could as distant as those two rivers if they
had all the time in the world. He also alludes to the Greek sun god, Helios, when he
mentions "Time's wingèd chariot," a specific reference to the chariot Helios rides across
the sky. This allusion is also an example of personification, a device by which an
inanimate object is given human attributes.
There are many more instances of figurative language. Marvell uses metaphor when
he compares eternity, or the afterlife, to "Deserts" that will be devoid of passion. He
uses a simile when the speaker describes his mistress's beautiful skin, saying that a
"youthful hue / Sits on [her] skin like morning dew." He compares the passion he claims
that she feels in her soul to "instant fires," another metaphor, and implores her, via
simile, to act with him "like amorous birds of prey" who would devour time rather than
allow it to devour them. Marvell personifies the sun again when the speaker claims that
he and his beloved "will make him run" to catch up with them.

Marvell's narrator uses hyperbole or exaggeration in this poem to try to persuade his
beloved to sleep with him. He refers to his beloved as coy, meaning shy, but with the
added twist of faking the shyness, of holding back to play games with him. He uses
exaggeration to indicate how much time he would love spending wooing her—if that
amount of time existed: ‘A hundred years should go to praise.’

Theme
The brevity of youth: The poem’s speaker emphasizes that the age of youth, passion,
and beauty is short.
Carpe diem: The poem is emblematic of the carpe diem tradition in English verse; in
Latin, the phrase means “seize the day.” The speaker argues that, in light of mortality,
his mistress should submit to their shared passion.
Desire and restraint: The poem centers around the speaker's wish to act on his desire
and the beloved's preference for restraint.

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 The Brevity of Youth
In “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker begins his argument to his mistress for the
immediate consummation of their relationship by imagining an alternative reality. His
mistress is being coy, and he demonstrates his appreciation for a long, slow courtship in
which

[They] would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass [their] long love’s day.

In a world with infinite time, he imagines, his beloved could stroll with leisure by rivers
across the world and refuse his advances till the end of time. He would gladly pass “an
age at least” admiring every part of her body and finally her heart, for this is what she
deserves.
However, this is only a fantasy, for “Time’s wingèd chariot [is] hurrying near.” The
speaker perceives Time as a threat that is constantly chasing him and his mistress
toward the “vast eternity” of death, which he implies dwarfs their time on earth. Marvell
contrasts the timeless fantasy of the first stanza with a sense of urgency in the second,
in which he describes the lovers’ deaths in detail. It will not be long before the mistress’s
“long-preserved virginity” will be compromised by worms in her grave, the speaker
asserts. He wishes to move on to a physical relationship with her while she exhibits a
“youthful hue,” which he likens to “morning dew,” again implying the ephemerality of
youth.

Carpe Diem
In the poem, the speaker’s main objective is to persuade his lover to seize the day and
give up her coy attitudes. The speaker says that he would court her slowly if there were
time, but the couple does not have that luxury, because life is short. The speaker
conveys his urgency through unusual and slightly morbid images of death and the
grave, and through his personification of Time as a predator. He also depicts immediate
submission to desire as victorious, for through this, he asserts, the lovers will defeat
Time.

The speaker’s statement “Now let us sport us while we may” in the third stanza is the
clearest demonstration of the carpe diem theme. In addition, his ironic comment that

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 The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace

argues that if his mistress refuses him for much longer, it will be too late. Throughout the
poem, the speaker argues that there is no time like the present for the lovers to indulge
in their passions.

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