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To His Coy Mistress. Play Audio. By Andrew Marvell. Share. 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.
- Summary
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Themes
- Different Interpretations
- To His Coy Mistress as A Metaphysical Poem
- Detailed Analysis
- Historical Background
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‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvellis a beautiful love poem based on a gentleman wooing his mistress to make love with him. ‘To His Coy Mistress’by Andrew Marvell details the efforts of a man towards insisting on his lover’s affection. The unnamed “Coy Mistress” refuses to sleep with the gentleman in question, and his response is to tell her th...
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell is written in iambic tetrameter, where the lines consist of four iambic feet, creating a playful yet structured rhythm. This is not the more commonly used iambic pentameter, which has five iambic feet. An iamb is an unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable. It is also interesting to note that ‘To ...
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell contains various literary devices that make the poetic persona’s arguments more appealing and emotionally forceful. Likewise, in the poem, the poet implicitly compares “coyness” to “crime”. It is a metaphor. Here, the poet thinks the coyness of the lady might kill the amorous spirit of his persona. In “long l...
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell hovers around several themes. The major theme of the poem is carpe diem. Carpe diem is a Latin phrase that means “seize the day!”. Andrew Marvell loved this theme and wrote many poems based on it. In this poem, the poet says that waiting for the right moment to make love, is nothing but the wastage of time. T...
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell is a poem that dates back to the Restoration period. At that time, the bounds and restraints of the Catholic ideals were beginning to fall apart. The restoration of Charles II made Protestant religion strong in England. The Whigs or the Parliamentarians tried to make it the official religion of England. Hence...
‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell is a perfect example of Metaphysical Poetry. Andrew Marvell, the poet, belonged to the second generation of Metaphysical poets. John Donne was the fountainhead of the genre and he influenced Marvell to adopt this unique styleof the period. Andrew Marvell in this poem employs several metaphysical conceits and ...
Lines 1-20
In these first lines, there are ten couplets, and mimics a traditional format – in this case, the poem itself, although written in the form of a love poem, does not aspire to such lofty heights; the gentleman wishes only for his lady to give in to his sexual advances, and so the use of the traditional love elegyformat (otherwise known as ‘carpe diem’ poetry) might seem as though it is ironically used. However, given that this was written at a time when such emotion was not freely expressed, t...
Lines 21-32
In the next lines, the mood of To His Coy Mistress swings abruptly. In the first, there was little haste or rush; the poet took his time describing the woman’s beauty, and all the ways that she deserved to be worshipped, producing, therefore, a flowing, relaxed poem that does not rush itself to the end. By these lines, however, the mood shifts, and the poet is at once pleading and urgent, telling the lady that he hears ‘time’s winged chariot hurrying near’ (alluding to Greek mythology, anothe...
Lines 33-46
However, in the last set of lines, the mood brightens again; the poet has a solution! They should embrace each other now, while they have the time, be together now when they are young and beautiful, and not think about the future. ‘Now let us sport while we may’, says the poet, urging his lady love to listen to him – ‘sport’ is a commonly used word, in the 17th century, for sex. He compares them to ‘amorous birds of prey’, thus showing the natural and impulsive urges of their nature – at once...
Most critics have considered the poem as a traditional carpe diem love poetry, however, some critics believe otherwise: they see it as an ironicremark on sexual seduction, and the light-hearted mood helps to support this view. Furthermore, they also point out that the combination of death imagery with the light-hearted view is itself indicative of ...
Learn about the structure, form, themes, and devices of Andrew Marvell's famous metaphysical poem 'To His Coy Mistress'. The poem urges the speaker's lover to enjoy his love now, using witty metaphors and comparisons.
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- Poetry Analyst
A carpe diem poem by Andrew Marvell, written in the 1650s and published posthumously. The speaker urges a young woman to enjoy life before death, but death looms large in the poem's imagery and tone.
A famous love poem by Marvell that compares his passion to the eternal love of the sun and the moon. He urges his mistress to enjoy their time together before death and decay separate them.
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.
To His Coy Mistress Lyrics. 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...
A metaphysical poem by Andrew Marvell urging a woman to love him before time runs out. Learn about its structure, themes, irony, allusions and adaptations in literature, music and science.
