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Story Analysis Since the dawn of humankind, his desires have grown more varied and extravagant with the passage of time. However, few desires have haunted the hearts of men more than the inextinguishable desire for immortality. In his own eloquent way, Andrew Marvell in this work seems to be flirting with the very same idea. At first glance, the poet seems to be wooing his mistress, and encouraging her to take their relationship beyond what it has already achieved. He expresses his love for her by guiding her into a world of wonder, where time ceases to move at all, and the coy lovers have an eternity onto themselves to do as they please.

He plays with the visual elements of his beloved’s imagination, describing how he would oblige his duties at his leisure, without a care for the time that passes.He expresses his endless love for his muse by explaining the incapability of loving her the way he desires to with such a short mortal life. He wishes upon both of them health and youth eternal, so that they can truly enjoy each other’s love. The poet clear use of the word ‘mistress’ seems an acknowledgement that this relationship is indeed a secret and doomed in the long run.

This reminds one of the great 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer when he said most eloquently, “To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake” (Malhotra, pp. 102). However, love does not often take logic or reasoning into account when it is born in the hearts of lover, in fact, in some cases, it is quite the other way around. The relationship between love and immortality seems almost inspired from Emily Dickinson’s words “For Love Is Immortality,” (Dickinson and Franklin, pp. 403). Marvell’s graphic description of death creates quite a stark contrast to his earlier visualization of immortality.

He seems to scare almost his mistress with the gloominess and darkness of death and the grave, her beauty and youth being only temporary gifts of life, as if in anticipation of her mistress’s anxious and hurried consent to his proposal. He then strives to coax his beloved to release all her doubts and inhibitions, so that both of them can truly enjoy each other’s presence, and let their lust and desire fill their lives instead of the fear of a gloomy demise.Man’s unquenchable desire for immortality and his unrelenting fear of death has indeed influenced his mind and life in the most remarkable ways.

From his earliest tales and myths inspired from objects, such as the fountain of everlasting youth, to his faith and the countless religions he practices, to his struggle with means of prolonging his life with the invention of modern medicine, man seems to be locked in a battle with mortality, a battle that itself seems immortal. In the words of Robert Green Ingersoll, “Our hope for immortality does not come from any religion, but nearly all religions come from that hope” (Ingersoll, pp. 48).

Conclusively, the paper includes efforts of the researcher to analyze the work of Andrew Marvell in a critical manner.Works CitedDickinson, Emily and Franklin, Ralph William. The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Harvard University Press, 1999.Ingersoll, Robert Green. The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll. BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009.Malhotra, Meera. Orient Book of Quotations. Orient Paperbacks, 2005.