Anaylsis of To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

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Recommended: In "To His Coy Mistress

This poem has been written in the form of a request to the poet's coy (or shy) mistress, the grant his desire for them to make love. He argues that for to delay makes no sense because 'at my back I always hear/time's winged chariot hurrying along near'. Much of his argument is made through a series of hyperbole (h-p rb-l) A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton. Here he is describing how slow they could move to consummate their love if there were no pressure of time. As all Cavalier poets, he supports the statement of "carpe diem", or "seize the day", that is an extension to the Renaissance code of chivalry.

Today, the speaker's speech may seem sexist in its attitude toward women and irresponsible in its attitude toward the coy mistress (the speaker doesn't explain how he would seize the day if the woman became pregnant, for example). The mistress would like to postpone sex (theoretically until she and the speaker are married). The speaker wants to consummate their physical relationship now.

The poem's speaker is attempting to persuade "His Coy Mistress" to have sex with him. The speaker seems frustrated, impatient, and to feel a sense of urgency in pursuing this goal.

Although the rhyme scheme of the poem follows a simple couplet pattern (AA, BB, and so on), two couplets use slant or irregular rhyme, not simply to vary the monotonous pattern but to reinforce the poem's theme. Lines 23 and 24 use the approximate rhyme "lie/eternity"; lines 27 and 28 repeat this irregularity: try/virginity." The poet uses pauses and enjambment (running one line into the next without a pause) to break up the neat pattern that the couplet rhyme scheme ...

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...ense of urgency and dread if the man does not get what he wants.

Form: couplets

5. Ganges (gnjz) A river of northern India and Bangladesh rising in the Himalayan Mountains

7. Humber: Hull, where Marvell lived as a boy, and which he represented as an M.P. for nearly twenty years from 1659, is on the river Humber.

10. The conversion of the Jews was to take place just before the end of the world.

11. vegetable love: that of his "vegetable'' soul.

29. quaint: elegant, artificial.

34. dew. The original reading is "glew,'' which has been justified as meaning "glow.''

36. instant: immediate and urgent.

38. amorous (mr-s) 1.Strongly attracted or disposed to love, especially sexual love. 2.Indicative of love or sexual desire: an amorous glance. 3.Of or associated with love: an amorous poem

40. slow-chapp'd: i.e., with slow-devouring jaws.

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