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Analysis Of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress

Decent Essays

Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress is a carpe diem poem, one that focuses on ‘seizing the day,’ because the speaker uses mortality along with religious terminology to justify his reasoning for needing to sleep with his mistress. He uses an antediluvian time frame, a time before the biblical flood, to set a frame of reference regarding his extended love. The speaker appeals to his mistress’s sense of devoutness by exploiting the religious connotations of phrases such as “Flood” (Marvell), “conversion of the Jews” (Marvell), “Deserts of vast eternity” (Marvell), and “long preserved virginity” (Marvell) while simultaneously associating them with humanity’s short life. In doing so, the speaker lays the groundwork for his argument, describes why time is of the essence, and expands on the adverse effects of his mistress’s reluctance to submit to entice her into believing that sleeping with him is justified by religion itself. The speaker uses religious context to set the foundation for his argument by assuring the reader that he genuinely cares about her and would prove it had he more time. The narrator constructs an antediluvian time frame to illustrate and exaggerate his devotion to his mistress. The narrator claims he would express his love for his mistress “ten years before the Flood” if he had the opportunity. This reference to the biblical flood shows how long he is willing to prolong his love in terms of expression without acting on his urges. The date of the flood,

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