Unveiling the Depths of "To His Coy Mistress" Analysis

Detailed Analysis of the poem To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

There are three stanzas in this poem: lines 1 20, lines 21 32, and lines 33 46.

1.Had we but world enough and time, 2This coyness, lady, were no crime. 3We would sit down, and think which way 4To walk, and pass our long love s day. 5Thou by the Indian Ganges side 6Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide 7Of Humber would complain. I would 8Love you ten years before the flood, 9And you should, if you please, refuse 10Till the conversion of the Jews. 11.My vegetable love should grow 12Vaster than empires and more slow; 13An hundred years should go to praise 14Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; 15Two hundred to adore each breast, 16But thirty thousand to the rest; 17An age at least to every part, 18And the last age should show your heart. 19For, lady, you deserve this state, 20Nor would I love at lower rate.

If we had all the time in the world, your prudishness wouldn't be a problem. We would sit together and decide how to spend the day. You would walk by the river Ganges in India and find rubies; I would walk by the river Humber in England and write my poems. I would love you from the very start of time, even before the Biblical Flood; you could refuse to consummate our relationship all the way until the apocalypse.

My slow-growing love would gradually become bigger than the largest empires. I would spend a hundred years praising your eyes and gazing at your forehead and two hundred years on each of your breasts. I would dedicate thirty thousand years to the rest of your body and give an era of human history to each part of you. In the final age, your heart would reveal itself. Lady, you deserve this kind of dedication and I don't want to accept any lesser kind of love.

1.If they had all the time in the world at their disposal then everything would be fine and he needn't have to press her for a sexual liaison. 2.Before them is eternity, a vast desert where they'll both turn to dust and ashes in the grave. Beauty will die. Not a very pleasant prospect. Lust turns to disgust. And Time flies. 3.Let's devour time before it devours us. The instinct drives birds of prey, why not us; let's strike while the iron's hot, create a ball of passion and take on the sun.

21. But at my back I always hear 22Time s wing d chariot hurrying near; 23And yonder all before us lie 24Deserts of vast eternity. 25Thy beauty shall no more be found; 26Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound 27My echoing song; then worms shall try 28That long-preserved virginity, 29And your quaint honour turn to dust, 30And into ashes all my lust; 31The grave s a fine and private place, 32But none, I think, do there embrace.

But I am always aware of time, the way it flies by. For us, the future will be a vast, unending desert for all of time. Your beauty will be lost. In the grave, my songs in praise of you will no longer be heard. And worms will take the virginity you so carefully protected during life. Your honor will turn to dust and my desire will turn to ashes. The grave may be a quiet, private place but no one has sex there.

33. Now therefore, while the youthful hue 34Sits on thy skin like morning dew, 35And while thy willing soul transpires 36At every pore with instant fires, 37Now let us sport us while we may, 38And now, like amorous birds of prey, 39Rather at once our time devour 40Than languish in his slow-chapped power. 41Let us roll all our strength and all 42Our sweetness up into one ball, 43And tear our pleasures with rough strife 44Through the iron gates of life: 45Thus, though we cannot make our sun 46Stand still, yet we will make him run.

Therefore, while your beauty sits right at the surface of your skin, and every pore of your body exudes erotic passion, let's have sex while we can. Let's devour time like lovesick birds of prey instead of lying about letting time eat away at us. Let's put together our strength and our sweetness and use it as a weapon against the iron gates of life. We may not be able to defeat time in this way, but at least we can make it work hard to take us.

Pronoun shift: In the final stanza, the speaker shifts away from first-person singular pronouns and instead begins utilizing first-person plural pronouns. The shift away from thy and I to us and our symbolizes the union between the speaker and his mistress in their metaphorical fight against time as well as the more literal consummation of their love.

Imagery. It is used to make the readers perceive things with their five senses. For example, Thou by the Indian Ganges side ; Time s wing d chariot hurrying near ; Deserts of vast eternity and then worms shall try that long- preserved virginity .

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /l/ in And while thy willing soul transpires .

Metaphor: It is a figure of speech used to compare two objects that are different. There are two metaphors used in this poem. The first is used in the fourth line, To walk, and pass our long love s day where he compares the life span of his and his mistress to one day. The second is used in the eleventh line, My vegetable love should grow where he compares his love with slow growth of vegetables.

Hyperbole: Hyperbole is a device used to exaggerate a statement for the sake of emphasis. The poet has used hyperbole in the fifteenth line, Two hundred to adore each breast.

Simile: There is only one simile used in this poem. In the line thirty-four Sits on thy skin like morning dew the poet compares woman s youthful skin to morning dew.

Enjambment: Enjambment refers to the continuation of a sentence without the pause beyond the end of a line, couplet or stanza. For example, But at my back I always hear Time s wing d chariot hurrying near;

Allusions Andrew Marvell used many allusions in his poem To His Coy Mistress thus making it interesting and colorful. An example of his use of this literary tool can be seen in these lines of the poem: I would Love you ten years before the Flood; And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. (7-10) Marvell uses Biblical concepts to show how much the narrator loves his mistress. In the Bible, the Flood occurs close to the time of Creation, and the Jews would convert at the end of the world. By these lines, the narrator is seen to be able to love his mistress as long as time endures.

In describing a very large distance, the author uses this allusion: Thou by the Indian Ganges side / Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide / Of Humber would complain (5-7). This allusion to Ganges, in India, and Humber (England) means that it seemed that the narrator and his mistress are indeed separated by a very great distance.

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