To His Coy Mistress - Essay Example

To His Coy Mistress In the mid-1600s, a witty British author by the name of Andrew Marvell wrote a catchy poem entitled “To His Coy Mistress.” In a nutshell, the story told in the poem is all about a man trying to convince his girlfriend to sleep with him. The whole poem is a long argument that they don’t really have all the time in the world and she should give up her virginity to him while they are still young and able to enjoy it. The poem is written from the point of view of a gentleman who is trying to persuade a woman to engage in sexual intercourse with him, although she is allegedly acting coy. He attempts to convince her that time is running out and they must seize the day (Carpe Diem being a general translation). The poem’s three sections are presented as if he is making a logical argument in the format of if he could but he can’t therefore she should. Essentially, it seems to be a poem arguing in favor of the concept of Carpe Diem, or live for the day. However, reading through the poem, it seems that the obvious support for living in the moment is too enthusiastic, adding a sarcastic edge to the poem that was intended to urge moderation and restraint. The first section of the poem introduces the scene as being a man and a woman talking with particular emphasis given to exaggeration. Throughout the entire section, the man spends his time talking about how the lady deserves to be adored for a long, long time before she is ever asked to reveal how she herself feels about her suitor. “She could be a coquette, one who uses arts to gain the admiration and the affections of men, merely for the gratification of vanity or from a desire of conquest; and, without any intention of responding to the feelings aroused in her plaything. At any rate, it was more the convention in Marvel’s day for a pretty woman when she found herself interacting with an available man, to display shyness or reserve or unwillingness, at least for the first little while” (Landry 2004). He says she could be as coy as she wants forever if they had forever to give. He extends this into the ridiculous when he says “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.” These crazy numbers are obviously far outside of the realm of possibilities because humans simply don’t live that long. Because he writes in iambic tetrameter, in which there is an unstressed beat followed by a stressed beat and three stressed beats per line, he sounds like he is joking at the same time that it seems as if he wants her to believe he is completely serious in making these promises. The meter has a sing-song quality while the formality of structure provides a sense of intelligent intention. In seemingly arguing for carpe diem, Marvell’s exaggeration of his adoration for the woman pokes fun at the traditions of the time that are made clear in the second stanza. The second section switches the focus from a reflection on what he would do if he had the time to a reminder that he really doesn’t. He talks about how time is always running at his back and all he can see in front of him is eternity, as in the eternity of the grave. This is made clear when he talks about “Thy beauty shall no more be found / Nor, in thy marble vault”. This is clearly a tomb, particularly when he mentions that the “worms shall try / That long preserv’d virginity.” The same iambic tetrameter is used here to hurry the reader through the lines, as if they were being rushed to some degree or forced to move through them on a time scale that is not of their own choosing. It takes effort to read the verses as they are instead of quickly moving in the same sing-song pattern through each couplet. The speaker argues that when she’s in her grave, it will be too late for her to enjoy the pleasures of physical love, but her body will no longer be preserved against violation as it is infested with worms and then withers away. Thus, he points out that the excesses of over-due coyness is not reasonable but also compares her body to something often considered terrifying. In doing so, he creates a metaphor between himself as poet and himself as speaker as even in living for the moment, the woman’s body becomes something vile that forces him to confront his fears about death. “His mistress is the subject of the speaker’s own fantasy of aggressive entrapment within the confines of his verse. Together they stand against the ‘slow-chapped power’ of time, and yet the speaker also associates the woman with these devouring jaws and the maggots who consume her at line 27. This decrepit female body penetrated by worms also evokes the desires of the speaker himself, and subsequently renders their love-making a crude confrontation with death” (Wishart, 2002). As a result, living for the moment does not conquer death, but forces one to confront it constantly. The third section of the poem then goes back to the speaker’s argument that they should enjoy each other now, while they are still young and beautiful. Not only is this important because she is beautiful now, but also because they are both filled with “instant fires” which will die away as they get older. He indicates that their time would be better spent enjoying the heat of these fires while they last. By combining their passions, he tells her that they may not be able to stop time, but they will be able to “make him run” to try to keep up with them. They will burn so brightly on their own love that they will be a rival to the ravages of time and thus, in a way, manage to keep their youth through their memories and attachment. Thus, there is a suggestion of moderation in the poem in that immediate gratification is in reality a form of death and long-term adoration is in reality impossible. However, the ability to enjoy passions together in appropriate time enables one to gain memories and strong attachments for the future that combines the best of both extremes while remaining realistically feasible. The story of the poem seems simple enough but it is actually a fairly well-reasoned argument subtly delivered through the tone, metaphor and meter of the poem. The speaker suggests that the woman in question is deserving of a very long and detailed courtship, but that time is short and they may be divided by death or other catastrophe at any time. Grabbing the moment, though, in the spirit of carpe diem, leads to an immediate reflection of death that may not be any more realistic or possible. In order to ensure that their love lasts, it is important to consummate it in appropriate time so their love can develop real attachment and be preserved into the future in more realistic form. Works Cited Landry, Peter. “To His Coy Mistress.” A Bluepete Poetry Pick. (2004). June 1, 2009 Marvell, Andrew. “To His Coy Mistress.” Luminarium. (1999). June 1, 2009 Wishart, David. “Andrew Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’: A Feminist Reading.” Bedford St. Martin’s, 2002. June 1, 2009 Read More