An Explication of to His Coy Mistress

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“To His Coy Mistress” is a lyrical poem written by Andrew Marvel. In this poem, Marvel uses vivid imagery and explicit allusions to convey the urgency of time and the impending doom that each passing moment presents. The speaker of the poem, a young man, uses the element of time to plead relentlessly with the female object of his desire to seize the day. He urges her to act swiftly, to give him her virginity before time slips away from them both, and the moment is lost forever. In the first stanza of the poem, the young man is attempting to persuade the young woman to stop coyly refuting his advances, desperately explaining that there is not enough time for such an act. “Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime.” (230) He explains to her that in a perfect world, neither time nor space would weaken his affections for her. “I would Love you ten years before the Flood, and you should, if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews.” (230) In this passage, he is remarking that he would love her from the beginning of time until the end. The young man then goes on to describe a world free from the constraints of time, a world where they will live forever, and they will be able to enjoy each other for eternity. ”An hundred years should go to praise thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze, Two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.” (231) In this perfect dream world, time does not exist. Infinity is theirs, and they can take their time pursuing each other eternally. In stark contrast, the second stanza begins with the indentation of the word “But” causing the word to jump off of the page. Suddenly, the dream world is shattered as the young man thrusts the woman back into the harshness of reality. “But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near, and yonder all before us lie deserts of vast

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