1. What does the title indicate about the mistress of the poet?

Ans: The title, “To His Coy Mistress” indicates that the poet’s mistress is a shy lady who
hesitates to respond quickly to her lover’s advances.

2. Where is Humber situated?

Ans: Humber is a river in Humberside, North- East England, consisting of the estuary of the
rivers Trent and Qusi and extending from their confluence for about sixty kilometer to the
North Sea.

3. Which Flood does the poet refer to in the poem, “To His Coy Mistress”?

Ans: The Flood, referred to by the poet in “To His Coy Mistress” was the great Flood as
related in the Genesis of the Bible. The scriptures says that the world was destroyed by the
Deluge.

4. How does the poet propose to appreciate the different parts of his beloved body?

Ans: If the poet and his beloved had enough space and time at their disposal he would
spend a hundred years in praising her eyes and gazing on her forehead; he would spend two
hundred years in admiring each of her breasts and he would spend three thousand years in
praising the remaining parts of her body.

5. What does the poet always hear at his back?

Ans: The poet always hears the rumbling sound of X winged Chariot that rushed forward to
shallow everything eternally. The image of Time’s winged Chariot signifies inevitability of
death and the shortness of human life.

6. What does the poet say about the grave?

Ans: The poet assures his beloved that the grave is a fine and private place, where none can
enjoy the pleasures of love- making. Thus the poet is laying emphasis upon sensual
pleasures of the present moments.
 7. What, according to the poet, is the proper time for enjoyment of life?

Ans: According to the poet, it would be proper for the lovers to enjoy the pleasures of love
when there is still time, when her skin is still youthful and fresh, and when her responsive
soul is burning with a desire for love -making.

8. How does the poet propose to his beloved to enjoy the present moment?

Ans: The poet proposes to his beloved that they should like amorous birds of prey enjoy the
pleasures of love, rather then suffering the pangs of unsatisfied love. In other words, they
should enjoy the pleasures of love –making with all their energy and vigour.

9. Why does the poet compare himself and his beloved to the amorous birds of prey?

Ans. Here the idea of love –making is combined with fierceness. The lover here speaks in
terms of a fierce passion.

10. What does the phrase ‘Time’s winged chariot’ signify?

Ans: The phrase ‘Time’s winged chariot’ signifies the fleeting nature of time and the
shortness of human life.

11. What does the poet mean by the phrase ‘Vegetable love’?

Ans: By “Vegetable love the poet means a kind of love which is characterized only by growth
like Vegetables and plants. The poet assumes that you to his beloved’s shyness, His love
will continue for or off years and grow slowly like a big tree vaster than empire.

12. What is hyperbole?

Ans: Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which something is described as better or worse

than it really is.
 13. What is ‘Carpe Diem Theme’?

Ans: The central theme of the poem, “To His Coy Mistress’’ is ‘Carpe-Diem’ theme.
According to this theme, the wisest man is he who understands the ruthless march of time
and knows how to enjoy the Present moment without caring for any criticism what so ever.

14. Why is grave not a proper place for making love?

Ans: The grave is a place where the dead body lies. But nobody can enjoy the pleasures of
love –making there, because the dead body has no sensation or feeling, and ultimately it
turns to dust.

15. What is ‘Carpe-Diem Theory’? In which poem do you find it?

Ans: ‘Carpe-Diem Theory’ as illustrated in Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress”
means that one should enjoy the present moment without caring for any criticism
whatsoever.