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Term Papers on Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress
| Term Paper Title | Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress |
| # of Words | 1097 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.39 |
Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress
The Non-Discriminatory Nature of Time in Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” Time passes. Its journey is oblivious to power, weakness, beauty, or mercy. The nature of time itself lies in its unrelenting progression through life, until we are removed from it’s favor and then wither and die. The purpose of most carpe diem poetry is to draw a character’s attention (usually the female) to the pressing nature of time’s progress, as well as illustrating the bountiful rewards of seizing the moment and giving into the momentary passions of life. Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress” is a classic example of carpe diem poetry, exemplifying the foreboding nature of time. It’s distinction from similar works, however, lies in its inherent ability to express the ominous nature of time’s advancement in terms of both the male and female’s perspectives. Rather than lament about missed opportunities, “To His Coy Mistress” actually serves to force one to consider how we compartmentalize time into stages of life, and thus commit ourselves to its mercy without allowing ourselves to relish its immediate rewards. Marvell’s sense of time affects both his characters in unique ways, and therefore unites their plight as a human cause rather than a gender based issue. Andrew Marvell expresses this point by structuring his poem into three components that propose the issues of time’s existence, its limited availability, and finally a solution of sorts. The first section of “To His Coy Mistress” serves the task of identifying that time is a limited commodity, and thus can not be wasted. Immediately the speaker states openly that “Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime” (1-2). The implication here, if taken at face value, suggests that the mistress’ coyness is a crime only because of the lack of time available. The speaker continues with “We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love’s day” (3-4). The tone of such a verse is overtly suspicious, automatically suggestive of the insidious nature of a man hungry to feed his lust. However, another possibility lies in the direct message Marvell puts forth in his verse. The spoken comments themselves suggest that “We would sit down, and think…” and “pass our long love’s day” (3,4). The impression given is one of joint merriment in love. The speaker associates the passion of his coy mistress with his own, creating a sense of understanding and common ground. The speaker then moves to a detailed description of how he, if given the opportunity, would spend increasing amounts of time to appreciate the details of her being. He emphasizes “My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow” (11), expressing how he would choose to take his time and immerse himself in loving his mistress. The speaker makes it clear that he would spend more and more time in love as time passes specifically dictating which parts he would focus on. Finally the speaker relates “For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate.” (20), which elicits a sense of honorable intention. Regardless of whether the reader trusts the speaker or not, attention is definitely drawn towards the abstract sense of time. T...This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Digital Term Papers. Please register below now!
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