To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell

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Summary	"To His Coy Mistress" is divided into three stanzas or poetic paragraphs. It’s spoken by a nameless man, who doesn’t reveal any physical or biographical details about himself, to a nameless woman, who is also biography-less.
'Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime'	The speaker starts off by telling the mistress that if there was enough time and enough space, then her "coyness" wouldn’t be an issue.
'We would sit down and think which way To walk and pass our long love's day'	If they had all the time in they could sit down and plan their relationship and take things as slow as they want.
'Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide'	The Ganges River is considered sacred and holy by many people all over the world. In Marvell’s time, the Ganges is pure and pristine. If they had all the time in the world they could spend time away from each other.
'Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews'	He would go back in time to Noah and the Flood, and forward in time to the "conversion of the Jews," all the while loving her.
'My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow'	The word "slow" suggests that "vegetable love" is "organic love" – love without the pressure of anything but nature, a natural process.
'An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part'	If he had all the time in the world he would give her compliments about each of her individual body parts,
'And the last age should show your heart'	She would then finally show him her 'heart' by having sex with him.
'For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate'	He believes she's worth nothing less than his whole 'heart'.
'But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near'	He then tells the woman that all of this is impossible as time does in fact exist.
'And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity'.	Then, he seems to have a hallucination. He tells the woman, look at all this sand. The future is just endless sand. We’re all going to die.
'Thy beauty shall no more be found'	He tells her that as time goes on, she won't be as pretty as she is now.
'Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound'	She won't be able to hear his pretty song when she's in her grave.
'My echoing song: then worms shall try That long preserved virginity'	The speaker tells the woman that, in the grave, worms will have sex with her.
'And your quaint honour turn to dust'	In the grave, her "quaint honor" will completely disintegrate implying that she can't take her virginity to the grave with her.
'And into ashes all my lust'	He tells her that if they die without having sex together, his "lust" or desire, will all burn up, with nothing left but the "ashes."
'The grave 's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace'	He says that coffins are very private but also very lonely.
'Now therefore, while the youthful hue'	The speaker suggests that his argument is successful, and that he’s about to tell the woman what she should do, since his argument is so successful.
'Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires'	He kind of brings her back from the grave here. Just a minute ago, he imagines her dead in the crypt, and, now, he tells her how young she is, and how her soul rushes around excitedly inside her.
'Now let us sport us while we may'	He then decides that he wants to play games.
'And now, like amorous birds of prey'	He wants to pretend that they are birds of pray mating.
'Rather at once our time devour'	They should have dinner first though.
'Than languish in his slow-chaps power'	He thinks that having sex is a way of controlling time.
'Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball'	Conveys sex as a sport rather than an act of love.
'And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life'	He claims to believe that sex is the way to another world, a way to break out of the prison of time.
'Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run'	The speaker seems a little bit calmer. He talks about the sun now, instead of time. In his time, the sun is thought to control time. In the end, he admits that sex is a compromise. They can’t use it to stop time, but they can use it to make time go faster.
Symbolism of motion and stillness	The motion helps the poem pick up speed, and the stillness lets reflect for moments before the poem rushes on. This back and forth also helps the speaker make his point. His portrayal of stillness isn’t very positive, while his moments of action are full of excitement and challenge
Symbolism of The Imperial	In the 1650s, the British Empire owned the land of India. Andrew Marvell was active politician, and very close with Oliver Cromwell thus he probably had some hand in British imperialism.

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To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell

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	Created by Aimee Vickers over 8 years ago