Tuesday, January 24, 2012

How would you explicate "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell?

In Andrew Marvell's poem, "To His Coy Mistress," the
speaker is trying to convince a woman he desires to give in to
him.


He begins with the idea that if it were possible, they
could take all the time they want. She could be coy and flirtatious—no big deal. They
could go their separate ways: she to the "Indian Ganges' side" to find rubies, and he to
complain of Humber (where he grew up). He would love her ten years before the Flood (of
Noah, in the Old Testament of the Bible), and she could continue to refuse him until the
Jews were converted to Christianity. He would praise her eyes for a hundred years; each
breast for two hundred years, "but thirty thousand to the rest." He would devote "an
age" to every part, the last being her heart. She would deserve this and he would give
her no less.


However, in the second stanza Marvell
introduces the theme popular with the Cavalier poets: Carpe Diem, which literally means
"seize the day," or let's live for today." Basically the speaker is saying, "time is
wasting," for:


readability="5">

...at my back I always hear / Time's winged
chariot hurrying near...



Tine
is rushing up behind us; our lives are flying past. The future holds nothing but
"eternity." She will lose her beauty. In her "marble vault" where they bury her his song
will not be heard. The worms will do their work, and her virginity and honour will "turn
to dust." And the passion he feels for her will burn itself out till nothing but ash
remains. The grave is all well and good, he says, but people don't hug
there.


So, he says in the third stanza, let's make the most
of this moment: let's not waste time...not while your skin is young "like the morning
dew," while her willing soul is pouring itself out of her pores with the fires of her
passion. While we are still young, let us make the most of our time together and use all
of our time to its best advantage. Let's roll strength and sweetness together and take
all our pleasure as we may. We may not be able to stop the sun (time), but we can make
the sun "run to keep up" with us.

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