To his Coy Mistress

Assignment from Mr. Tame's English Literature Class

To his Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime.

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast;

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart;

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

   But at my back I always hear

Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

   Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Analysis Paper of

To his Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

            ‘To his Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell is a poem dedicated to the speaker’s ‘sweetheart’, urging her to make love with him. The speaker of this poem is directly talking to this mistress, who is being so shy, probably because she is not allowed to have a relationship with the guy. Also, this poem is in the form of iambic tetrameter, with rhyming words at the end of each line. All the paired rhyming words are closely related to each other in meaning, particularly in consistency with the theme of this poem.

            In the first part of the poem, Ganges’ side and the tide of Humber are compared, with the rhyming words side and tide. The Ganges, a river in India and the Humber, a river in England are far away from each other, thereby representing the distance between the speaker and his love, the mistress. In addition, it is easily implied that the girl is refusing to have a relationship with the man because she is a Jewish, which is also related to two rhyming words, refuse and Jews. Overall, the first part discusses the slow and steady love game between him and his love.

In the second part, the speaker is suddenly aware of the limitation of time, which is even more emphasized by rhymes at the end of each line. Here, the pace of the poem starts to get faster, with much more passion and burning love. Especially in the lines ‘hear the / Time's winged chariot hurrying near’, the two rhyming words hear and near give readers the feeling of being pursued.

            The third part bit by bit begins to explicitly talk about sex, now every line representing something regarding it, which varies greatly according to the reader’s interpretation. Also, the line that says, ‘And tear our pleasures with rough strife / Through the iron gates of life’ indicates the passionate love towards his ‘sweetheart’, for strife and life together hint the idea of eternity. This is due to the fact that life can be considered a ‘complete life’ only when it accompanies strife, or conflict. Therefore, this means that the speaker will always be together with her, no matter how difficult the approaching problems are. Moreover, the last two lines, ‘Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run.’can signify an important point. Other love poets would probably sing that he would stop the time even just for an instant, to get together with his lover. However, the speaker of this poem in turn says he would make the sun, or time, run, instead of making it stand still. This implies that he would rather spend the rest of his life together with his love, not for just a while.

            As stated above, the feelings expand and intensify as the poem progresses towards the end, and this trait is emphasized by two important symbols, the vegetable love in the first part, and instant fires in the last part. In this context, vegetable love would mean a love that has the property of life and growth, as does a plant. It can mean a love that actually grows, takes nourishment and reproduces, although very slowly. On the other hand, the instant fires would indicate a love that blazes with passion and desire. These two concepts are completely opposite to each other, letting the readers recognize the vast expansion of feelings throughout the poem. I personally love this poem, as its language is very intense and effective enough to deliver his message of love, which makes the readers really pay attention to what the speaker is trying to tell.