Analysis of To His Coy Mistress

To his coy mistress is about sexual feelings and infatuation, based on

the Italian tradition of courtly love - it is filled with compliments

and references to sexual activity and deviancy but is generally a one

sided love, the whole poem is about the man wooing the woman and

persuading her that she should have sex with him. Throughout the first

stanza the poet writes how he would love the woman, had they had all

the time in the world. The love is much exaggerated.

"I would love you ten years before the flood"

This is clearly an exaggerated statement because the flood happened

before Christ, before the poet or the woman even existed. This

portrays that he would love her forever.

"My vegetable love would grow vaster…and more slow"

The poet is talking about time, about his love growing slowly but

surely over time. The reference to a vegetable the natural fruit of

the earth symbolises how the love for the woman will grow over years,

from a seed getting bigger over time- its natural and deep rooted

love.

The end of the poem becomes more persuasive and hasted. The poet gets

more desperate for the woman to accept his offer and to agree to sleep

with him.

A clear indication of a change in tone is shown in stanza two…

"BUT… times winged chariot hurrying near"

Where the word But is placed at the start of the sentence usually

indicates that the statement before the but is about to be

contradicted with a sentence of the opposite meaning (he was good BUT

he is being bad)

the use of personification verbs add to the tone of the poem; making

time seem as a winged chariot emphasises the rush that the poet is in,

...

... middle of paper ...

...time

"Seemed night at noon day"

Though in the poem the reader is not given a sense of 'hurrying' and

anticipation but a sense of confusion portraying the emotional

distress the poet is going through.

As the poem progresses into the third and last stanza the poet writes

of his rejection and his pain cause by the subject he had so

hopelessly fallen in love with.

"Is love's bed always snow?"

this is a rhetorical question, comparing the of love which is thought

to be warm and loving with passionate heat and comfort (positive) to

snow; cold harsh snow, with no colour, which is bleak and which brings

death to all living things (negative) - again the poet is using

contrasting aspects in one sentence to show confusion too.

The poet has been made to feel that love is a horrible, harsh and

bitter feeling.