Interpretation of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell - Essay Example

Poetry Interpretation of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is a love poem by Andrew Marvell in which the lover’s ultimate goal is to persuade his mistress to fulfill his sexual desires. His arguments are based around fear of death that may occur at any time and loss of youth and beauty; thus he tries to convince her that there is no point in holding back their sexual desires because life is too short and unpredictable. This poem is written in dramatic monologue in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets. The structure of the poem comprises of three parts, which helps in developing logical argument of the lover. The lover professes to be open and honest, rejecting arithmetical flattery and other sexist conventions. He does not use lines or play games… he does not think of her as a creature too pure to address with candor, and he goes so far so as to speak of her ‘quaint honour’. (Baruch) This poem characterizes a lover that is honest about his sexual intentions. The only information about the woman given in this poem is her coyness- whether it is her natural trait or merely a playful tact to seduce her lover. The lover urges her throughout the poem to drop the garb of coyness and open up to him. He wants her to participate in fulfilling his sexual needs and derive as much pleasure as him. The lover expresses an impossible wish in the first stanza of the poem in order to make the picture clear to his mistress that they need to be realistic about their relationship. He begins with an impractical wish in which he sketches scenes of traditional courtship. He flatters her and tries to convince her that if he had the time to display such exaggerated affection to his mistress, he would have done it; but as the reality does not permit him to do so, therefore they should not waste time. The argument presented in the first stanza is based on the time constraints of the real word that do not permit them to waste time in courtship. The first line of the poem “Had we but world enough, and time/…” refers to the simple fact that they do not have enough time for any traditional kind of romance. The lover is very generous in this imaginary setting where he wants to spend thousands of years in praising his mistress’s physical beauty. The second stanza contains a metaphor ‘Time's winged chariot’ (22), which stands for death. The poet knows for sure that death will not spare anyone, therefore, before it occurs, he should acquire whatever he can while he is alive. “The chariot hurrying behind the poem is desire. What the poem longs for is a desire without urgency, without time, but it wryly concludes that the only place … is the grave.” (ed. Hirst, 72) The tempo of this poem goes on different levels in subsequent stanzas and this is rendered by using appropriate words and expressions. The slow tempo of the first stanza is best depicted by these lines: “My vegetable love should grow/ Vaster than empires, and more slow.” (11-12); while the lover’s desires come to a standstill in the second stanza when he refers to death. ‘But none I think do there embrace.’ (32) The movement in the third stanza reaches a crescendo with the lover’s loud and clear sexual desires and passions in befitting words like “fires”; “amourous birds of prey”; “rough strife” and “iron gates” etc. The setting of the second stanza is also in a stark contrast to the first stanza, where the lover was praising the beauty of his mistress and urging her to comply with his sexual needs. However, there is some kind of a warning in the second stanza when he says: “…then worms shall try/ That long preserv'd virginity,/And your quaint honour turn to dust...” (27-29) By showing a sharp contrast, the lover convinces his mistress to let him take her virginity before the worms eat her up in the grave. The lover does not attribute her shyness any significant value and terms it ‘quaint honour’ which will end in dust. “This narrative refers to mortality and finite existence in order to highlight the lack of fulfillment, unlike the previous one, in which fulfillment is postponed indefinitely in an infinity of time and space.” (Huhn, 50) The lover concludes his argument in the last stanza by saying that as they cannot stop the wheel of time therefore, they must run against time and love each other as much as possible. The use of symbolism and imagery in this poem has helped develop the argument of the lover. Imagery in this poem is handled differently in each stanza of the poem. It is farfetched in the first stanza where the lover needs centuries to praise and woo his mistress: ‘An age at least to every part,’ (17); it becomes a bit horrid in the second stanza with images of worms eating up the dead bodies ‘worms shall try/That long preserv'd virginity’ (27-28); and animalistic in the thirst stanza ‘like am'rous birds of prey,/ Rather at once our time devour’(38-39) In the first stanza, the images of the mistress collecting rubies by the Ganges river in India and the poet pining her love on the other side of the world, paints a picture of an exaggerated courtship. The growth of the poet’s ‘vegetable love’ is slow but steadfast, to an extent that it surpasses the growth of empires. The poet gives constant references to historical and religious events in the first stanza. This poem was written in the 17th century, when different empires were competing with each other to spread their empires. The lover wishes to build his romantic relationship in a slow manner, if he had the time to do so. The poet gives a couple of reference to Christian traditions like burial and the great Flood. He also challenges Christian beliefs of life and death because in his views, ‘deserts of vast eternity’ lay beyond death. He doesn’t seem to believe in life after death. Though, this poem is primarily about seizing time and making the most of it in fulfilling one’s physical pleasures; however, there is an undertone of seriousness in the second stanza when he refers to the issue of mortality. The phrase ‘deserts of vast eternity’ contrasts with ‘vegetable love’ and points to the fact that everything comes to an end when someone dies. The term ‘vegetable’ refers to life- a living relationship. A desert is not an ideal place to love or to live either; thus they should take advantage of the time they have while they are alive in gratifying their sexual pleasures. The poet has used irony when he used the term “conversion of the Jews”; because this is something that has never happened. He has used this term in the first stanza to denote endless time. Marvel has also used simile to express his desires to his mistress. “…youthful hue/ Sits on thy skin like morning dew” (33-34) He compares her youth and beauty with the morning dew which looks beautiful and fresh in the morning but vanishes as time passes. He is convincing his mistress that her youth is like morning dew, which will fade in a short time and she might not stay attractive for him. In line 46, he expresses is desire to behave ‘like am'rous birds of prey’. This comparison is intended to refer to his passionate desires which he wants to be reciprocated by his mistress. He wishes his mistress to display such an aggressive attitude instead of being so shy. The last lines of the poem are full of action and give a detailed account of how the lovers should fulfill their desires with intense passion. The imagery described in line 42 ‘up into one ball’ is ambiguous but it refers to combining their sexual prowess and sweetness into one. It may also point to the consummation of their love or their sexual union. The poem is a straightforward expression of a lover to his coy mistress who is apparently not willing to give in to his sexual needs. Ironically, it is not about the purity of love as suggested in the line: ‘the last age should show your heart.’ (18) He wishes to devote thousands of years in praising the beauty of his mistress and once he is satiated with her physical beauty, then only he would want to turn to her heart. His argument is presented in a strong manner to match the intensity of his passions. Marvell’s use of imagery, symbolism, irony and simile describe his argument logically. Though the central theme of this poem revolves around the fulfillment of sexual desires, there are other serious matters like the importance of time and the question of mortality. “There is an undertone of melancholy here for even with all of the strength and power which an individual can develop, nurture and produce and even with all of the love and the passion which can be congenially and vitally shared, death will inevitably and objectively intervene to conquer all.” (Walter, 19) Constant references to time and death refer to the fact that one should make the most of one’s life because life is precious and everything comes to an end once we die. Work Cited Huhn, Peter. Narratologia: The narratological analysis of lyrical poetry. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2005. Print. Baruch, Elaine. Women, Love, and Power: Literary and Psychoanalytic Perspectives. New York: NYU Press, 2012. Print. Walter, Hugo. Sanctuaries of Light in Nineteenth-century European Literature. New York: Peter Lang Publsihing, 2010. Hirst, Derek and Steven Zwicker. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Andrew Marvell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print. . Read More