Poetry during the 17th century often shared similar themes, narratives, and messages. These topics often revolved around concepts of innocence, romance, loss, temptation, and desire, especially when it came to courtship. Andrew Marvell, a prominent English metaphysical poet and politician, whose "To His Coy Mistress," thought to have been written during the 1650s, explores themes of innocence and temptation, especially in terms of courtship. Moreover, "To His Coy Mistress" can be categorized as a carpe diem poem, as the narrator attempts to convince his mistress to lower her inhibitions and give in to his desires. "To His Coy Mistress" explores the conflict the narrator perceives between innocence and temptation through a detailed use of imagery and metaphors that allow Marvell to elaborate on the narrator's urgency.
"To His Coy Mistress" can be classified as a carpe diem poem because of the demands the narrator makes of his mistress. In the poem, the narrator urges and pleads with his mistress to give in to his desires because he does not know what may come in the future and wants to take advantage of the present, in essence, he wants to "seize the day" ("Carpe Diem: Poems for Making the Most of Time"). The poem begins with the narrator stating, "Had we but world enough, and time,/This coyness, lady, were not crime," in which the narrator establishes that if they had all the time in the world, his mistress's behavior and reluctance to give in to his desires would not be as tasking on his patience if he did not believe that they needed to take advantage of the precious little time they have to spend together on this Earth. The narrator uses imagery...
Furthermore, he states that he would spend as much time as possible loving her and conceding to her every wish. Marvell writes, "I would/Love you ten years before the Flood;/And you should, if you please, refuse/till the conversion of the Jews" (line 7-10). The narrator also argues that if he was given time, he would allow his love to flourish and grow for his mistress as she is leading him to believe is a comfortable rate of courtship. He continues to push her to lose her innocence by using metaphors to compare his love to a vegetable that needs to be tended to and cultivated. The narrator contends, "My vegetable love should grow/Vaster than empires, and more slow," slow enough to appreciate everything that she has to offer (line 11-12). The narrator exaggerates the amount of time he would dedicate to cultivating his love as he provides a temporal breakdown. He contends he would spend 100 years praising her eyes and gazing on her forehead; "Two hundred to adore each breast;" and 30,000 years would be dedicated to praising the rest of her, hoping that at the "last age should show [her] heart" (lines 13-18). Paradoxically, the narrator attempts to convey a tone of restraint during this first stanza because is attempting to convince his mistress that she is worthy of the respect she commands. He contends, "For, lady, you deserve this state,/Nor would I love at a lower rate," however, it appears as though his arguments are contradictory in the ensuing stanzas because although he…
