Response to His Coy Mistress

Response to His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is the charming depiction of a

man who has seemingly been working very hard at seducing his mistress.

Owing to Marvell's use of the word "coy," we have a clear picture of

the kind of woman his mistress is. She has been encouraging his

advances to a certain point, but then when he gets too close, she

backs off, and resists those same advances. Evidently, this has been

going on for quite some time, as Marvell now feels it necessary to

broach the topic in this poem.

He begins in the first stanza by gently explaining that his mistress's

coyness would not be a "crime" if there were "world enough, and time…"

(l.2). He compares his love to a "vegetable," which means that it

would not stray, but would grow "vaster than empires," and would do so

more slowly (ll. 11-12). He claims that he would happily spend a

hundred years praising her eyes, and gazing at her forehead. When that

is over, he would spend two hundred years on each breast, and spend

"thirty thousand to the rest" (l. 16). He then crowns this romantic

hyperbole with the statement, "[f]or, lady, you deserve this state,

/Nor would I love at a lower rate" (ll. 19-20). These statements serve

to support one of the major themes of the poem: flattery with an aim

toward seduction. He uses such grandiose statements to help his

mistress understand that he truly cares for her enough to spend

hundreds of years simply gazing at her. However, this leads to a

problem, as there is simply not the time available.

This causes Marvell in the second stanza to remind his mistress that

always her hears at his back "[t]ime's wing'ed chariot hurrying near"

(ll. 21-22). This lets her know gently, but in ...

... middle of paper ...

...r Marvell to use this foot, as the poem represents a

conversation. The easy flow of the iamb also helps to make the poem

seem more real, more believable, because we don't have to stretch or

sound strained while reading it. There is a slight change in the foot

pattern in line 33. Marvell begins the line with the word "now" and

places a stress on this syllable. This helps signify that there is a

transition in the conversation, as well as serving to provide a more

forceful conclusion to the poem. Beginning the third stanza with a

stressed syllable gives the entire stanza a feel of more power, even

as it flows back into the easy rhythm of iambs. Iambs also fit with

the tone of the poem, which is one of earnestness, but not anger, or

even frustration. Marvell's tone is one of calm persuasion.

Ultimately, this poem provides a wonderful pattern for living life.