To His Coy Mistresse
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“To His Coy Mistress” (1641) is a poem written by Andrew Marvel. Unlike many of the other poems I have experienced, this one was filled with an intense lustful sexuality; with its sole purpose of getting the virgin to bed the speaker.
Firstly, the title of this poem indicates that the poem is about a mistress with the indication of “His” coy mistress being that of a possessive state. “Coy” would infer illusiveness or shyness which would merit unwillingness on the part of the mistress. From my interpretation of this poem the title does indeed do an appropriate job in the representation of what this work is about.
The initial tone of this poem leaves me feeling that the speaker is projecting an aura of being crafty or clever in nature. This is indicated by the following passage: “Had we but enough, and time. This coyness, lady, were no crime”(Marvell, 1641) Initial interpretation of this line has me to believe that the speaker is trying to woe the mistress over by inferring that if they had more the ample time her reluctance or coyness would not be a problem.
Progressively through the poem the speaker becomes less candid and more straight forward changing his tone to illustrate his true intensions. In line 15, “Thine eyes, and on they forehead gaze: Two hundred to adore each breast” (Marvell, 1641) this line shows his lust for the mistress as he clearly indicates that her breasts are more important then her eyes and face. In addition to this he also states “But thirty thousand to the rest” (Marvell, 1641); I can only surmise that the speaker is in fact referring to the females lower half which he places a higher value on then the rest of her being.
Later the tone changes again to become more cynical and morbid as the speaker now seems agitated with high use of imagery to focus the attention on “My echoing song; then worms shall try. That long preserved virginity, and your quant honor turn to dust” (Marvell, 1641). This seems to be a last ditch effort by the speaker to denounce the virtues of this fair lady in order to seduce her by pressuring her with the thought of passing time leading to her demise. This is further substantiated with the previous stanza “And yonder all before us lie, Deserts of vast eternity” (Marvell, 1641) when the speaker begins to intensify his association of time with the vastness of eternity which equates to the solitude of the after life.
Finally the tone increases in tempo on lines 36 to 43 as the speaker starts to talk about fires, devour, and tear. This usage of words fills the poem with strong emotion and imagery. This leads up to the final verse “Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we can surely run.” (Marvell, 1641) which is the speakers way of concluding his lecture with a final premise. We cannot stop time but we can make the most of the time we have together.
The meter in this poem averaged eight syllables per line and kept the average tempo through the poem while he kept maintaining a steady pulse of breaks through the usage of commas. However he then picks up speed greatly towards the end and finally breaks out of the current meter with “Let us roll all our strength and all” (Marvell,