Coy Mistress Analysis

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Carlos Alvarado Dr. Thurman English 210 – Paper #1 5 February 2007 Raychel H. Reiff. Explicator. Vol. 60. #4, pp. 196-198, Summer 2002. To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress is undoubtedly my favorite poem thus far this semester. A poem that is very difficult to comprehend, but as you read and study it a few times it clearly becomes easier to understand Marvell’s work. A dictionary is very supportive for this poem to understand the histories of words. A poem written so long ago contains language that has entirely changed in use and meaning over the past few hundred years. Raychel Reiff’s article about this poem simply explains what Marvell is saying in simpler terms. Reiff first begins to comment on Marvell’s excellent use of first and second-person pronouns to “manipulate the tone and to help win over his coy mistress.” Throughout the first section of the poem, Reiff explains that Marvell “uses both the formal and informal second-person pronouns, as well as the singular and plural first-person pronouns.” This simply shows that “although he would like to have an intimate relationship with her, he will allow her to remain distant and separate as long as time presents no problem.” In other words, he wants to be with her, but will allow her to do whatever she pleases if she doesn’t feel the same. The next section simply deals with time and more word usage. In the second section, Reiff states that Marvell uses the “formal form of the second-person pronoun.” He also uses first-person pronouns. I believe she is correct about what he uses in this second section. Reiff clearly states what he says perfectly in this second section. The last section is very simple compared to the last two. In the final section, Reiff clearly explains again what he is saying in simpler terms. She explains that it contains “no formal second-person and

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