Literary Analysis Of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress

Marvell’s poem expresses the idea of carpe diem through the utilization of imagery, multiple tones and metaphors. He uses death as an argument for carpe diem because it causes one to realize that they should cherish the life they have now before it is too late. “To His Coy Mistress” shows that the society of Marvell’s time did not allow for people to take chances in their lives. Many people may have passed on taking certain risks in their lives, and when the time did come for their lives to end, they were filled with thoughts containing wishes of taking those risks they passed over. This poem teaches people to fully live every moment in their life and it should be read so that people can learn to live life with no regrets.

‘To His Coy Mistress’ was written by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). The poem is a metaphysical poem, which was mostly used in the seventeenth century and was classed as a highly intellectual type of poetry and mainly expressed the complexities of love and life; just as this poem is. In brief the poem is about seizing every opportunity in life and not caring about the past or future. In other words ‘seize the day’. The poem also explores the nature of seduction.

Comparing Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress and Robert Herrick’s To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

The speaker in Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'; is a man who is addressing a silent listener, who happens to be his mistress. In this dramatic monologue the speaker tries to explain his feelings to his mistress. The speaker uses many allusions to empires and other objects, events and ideas that are not directly related to his feelings, in order to explain how he feels. He uses these allusions to exaggerate his feelings in order to clearly show them. After reading over the poem once, you get a sense of what the speaker is feeling. Upon further analysis of the poem you realize that the allusions used in the poem, are in fact, what makes this poem so interesting.

The use of connotative words in this piece is the foundation of this poem and it provides an idea of what this poem is going to be about. In the first stanza he describes the woman as “lovely in her bones,” showing that her beauty is more than skin deep comparing her virtues to a goddess of “only gods should speak.” In the second stanza, the reader can see and feel the love between the two people. The woman taught him how to "Turn, and Counter-turn, and Stand," showing that she was the teacher in the relationship and taught him things he thought he never needed to know. The speaker shows how when they are together, she was “the sickle” and he was “the rake” showing that this woman taught him what love is.

He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and

Sex described in this poem is between two people who are not in love, and it’s vividly elaborated throughout the poem. Olds brings foreplay, tenderness, and

I think that during the end of the first stanza the poet starts to become quite theatrical. "Yet this enjoys it before it woo, And pamper'd swells in one blood made of two; And this, alas! Is more than we would do." This could be referring to sex.

Lastly, not only does the shift of pronouns emphasize the intimate setting, but it also creates the lingering feeling of a third party. The poem’s title and structure promote the initial tone of nonchalance in order to disguise the severity of the author’s adulterous

Sex and lust have changed greatly over time, especially since the late 1600s. In the poem, “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell the relationship between sex and time is rather passionate, but shifts as Marvell metaphorically describes time. The horrifying tone put on the metaphors, allusions, and the hyperboles play an important role in the understanding of Marvell’s meaning on sex and lust of the speaker’s lady over time. The idea that each sex act shortened someone’s life has come a long way. On the other hand it is believed that the message Marvell was trying to address was how the cold lady threatened the speakers love for her. Another idea is that the poem is based on death, and how everything will one day die, rather than the passionate approach. I will prove how these 2 ideas are wrong.

The structure and tone of the poem enhance the conflict and hopelessness the speaker is feeling towards the woman he loves and desires. For the first twelve lines of the poem there is an “abab” rhyming pattern. This ties into the despairing and desirable tone and how the rhyming scheme can be an example of the speaker constantly going back and forth between emotions for this women. For example, “And that mine eyes take no delight to range About the gleams which on your face do grow.” (Gascoigne 3-4) are two phrases that contradict the speakers feelings. Stating that his eyes take no delight in range can refer to the speaker finding no use or happiness in looking at the woman. Although, he then mentions the gleams upon her face growing, giving the audience the idea that even though the speakers love for the woman causes him deep despair, he still desires her enough to describe her features in attentive detail; in this example the gleams on her face. This shows the back and forth pattern and the speakers struggle when it comes

Andrew Marvell's elaborate sixteenth century carpe diem poem, 'To His Coy Mistress', not only speaks to his coy mistress, but also to the reader. Marvell's suggests to his coy mistress that time is inevitably rapidly progressing and for this he wishes for her to reciprocate his desires and to initiate a sexual relationship. Marvell simultaneously suggests to the reader that he or she should act upon their desires as well, to hesitate no longer and seize the moment before time, and ultimately life, expires. Marvell makes use of allusion, metaphor, and grand imagery in order to convey a mood of majestic endurance and innovatively explicate the carpe diem motif.

Carpe Diem is another major theme never found in courtly love poetry, but rather in cavalier. Cavalier poets urge young lovers to “seize the day”, enjoy the present moment because youth and beauty will fade soon and forever. The theme of brevity of life also serves the carpe diem, since the best in life ends “Corinna’s Going a Maying” insists on enjoying youth and love and not to be shy, because all pleasures of life come to an end when death comes. [Cavalier poets did not take life seriously, because this life is too short, so one should enjoy it.

happens to one of them or if one of them dies. He says he wants them

‘To His Coy Mistress’ Is a love poem by Andrew Marvel. The poem is ‘carpe diem’ which translates to seize the day, this means the poem does not take its time its blunt and straight to the point. The poem contains a thesis, antithesis and synthesis, the main argument points of the poem. The poem is split into three stanza’s which are used to persuade the woman to give up her virginity before her beauty dies. It is a conventional poem for its time in the 17th century.