To His Coy Mistress

To His Coy Mistress Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime We would sit down and think which way To walk and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow; A 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; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song: then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust: The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapt power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. To His Coy Mistress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A 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; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart. For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate. But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song: then worms shall try That long preserved virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust: The grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapt power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. "To His Coy Mistress" is a metaphysical poem written by the English author and politician Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) either during or just before theInterregnum. This poem is considered one of Marvell's finest and is possibly the best recognized carpe diem poem in English. Although the date of its composition is not known, it may have been written in the early 1650s. At that time, Marvell was serving as a tutor to the daughter of the retired commander of the New Model Army, Sir Thomas Fairfax.[1] Contents [hide]

To His Coy Mistress

1 Synopsis

Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime We would sit down and think which way To walk and pass our long love's day. Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow;

2 Structure 3 Critical reception and themes 4 Allusions in other works 5 References 6 External links Synopsis[edit] The speaker of the poem addresses a woman who has been slow to respond to his sexual

advances. In the first stanza he describes how he would love her if he were to be unencumbered by the constraints of a normal lifespan. He could spend centuries admiring each part of her body and her resistance to his advances (i.e., coyness) would not discourage him. In the second stanza, he laments how short human life is. Once life is over, the speaker contends, the opportunity to enjoy one another is gone, as no one embraces in death. In the last stanza, the speaker urges the woman to requite his efforts, and argues that in loving one another with passion they will both make the most of the brief time they have to live. Structure[edit] The poem is written in iambic tetrameter and rhymes in couplets. The first verse stanza ("Had we...") is ten couplets long, the second ("But...") six, and the third ("Now therefore...") seven. The logical form of the poem runs: if... but... therefore... Critical reception and themes[edit] Until recently, “To His Coy Mistress” had been received by many as a poem that follows the traditional conventions of carpe diem love poetry. However, some modern critics consider Marvell’s use of complex and ambiguous metaphors challenges the perceived notions of the poem. It as well raises suspicion of irony and deludes the reader with its inappropriate and jarring imagery.[2] Some critics believe the poem is an ironic statement on sexual seduction. They reject the idea that Marvell’s poem carries a serious and solemn mood. Rather, the poem’s opening lines—“Had we but world enough, and time/ This coyness, Lady, were no crime”—seems to suggest quite a whimsical tone of regret. In the second part of the poem, there is a sudden transition into imagery that involves graves, marble vaults and worms. The narrator’s use of such metaphors to depict a realistic and harsh death that awaits the lovers seems to be a way of shocking the lady into submission. As well, critics note the sense of urgency of the narrator in the poem’s third section, especially the alarming comparison of the lovers to “amorous birds of prey.” [1] Allusions in other works[edit] At least two poets have taken up the challenge of responding to Marvell's poem in the character of the lady so addressed. Annie Finch's "Coy Mistress"[3] suggests that poetry is a more fitting use of their time than lovemaking, while A.D. Hope's "His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell" turns down the offered seduction outright. Many authors have borrowed the phrase "World enough and time" from the poem's opening line to use in their book titles. The most famous is Robert Penn Warren's 1950 novel World Enough and Time: A Romantic

Novel, about murder in early-19th century Kentucky. With variations, it has also been used for books on the philosophy of physics (World Enough and Space-Time: Absolute versus Relational Theories of Space and Time), geopolitics (World Enough and Time: Successful Strategies for Resource Management), a science-fiction collection (Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction - Dan Simmons), a short story by Terry Pratchett (#ifdefDEBUG + "world/enough" + "time"), and, of course, a biography (World Enough and Time: The Life of Andrew Marvell). The verse serves as an epigraph to Mimesis, literary critic Erich Auerbach's most famous book. Also in the field of science fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote a Hugo-nominated short story whose title, "Vaster than Empires and More Slow", derives from the poem. Ian Watson notes the debt of this story to Marvell, "whose complex and allusive poems are of a later form of pastoral to that which I shall refer, and, like Marvell, Le Guin's nature references are, as I want to argue, "pastoral" in a much more fundamental and interesting way than this simplistic use of the term." [4] There are other allusions to the poem in the field of Fantasy and Science Fiction: the first book of James Kahn's "New World Series" is titled "World Enough, and Time;" and Peter S. Beagle's novel A Fine and Private Place about a love affair between two ghosts in a graveyard. The latter phrase has been widely used as a euphemism for the grave, and has formed the title of several mystery novels. The phrase "there will be time" occurs repeatedly in a section of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), and is often said to be an allusion to Marvell's poem.[citation needed] Prufrock says that there will be time "for the yellow smoke that slides along the street", time "to murder and create", and time "for a hundred indecisions ... Before the taking of a toast and tea". As Eliot's hero is, in fact, putting off romance and consummation, he is (falsely) answering Marvell's speaker. Eliot also alludes to the lines near the end of Marvell's poem, "Let us roll all our strength and all / Our sweetness up into one ball," with his lines, "To have squeezed the universe into a ball / To roll it toward some overwhelming question," as Prufrock questions whether or not such an act of daring would have been worth it. Eliot returns to Marvell in The Waste Land with the lines "But at my back in a cold blast I hear / The rattle of the bones" (Part III, line 185) and "But at my back from time to time I hear / The sound of horns and motors" (Part III, line 196). The line "deserts of vast eternity" is used in the novel Orlando: A Biography, by Virginia Woolf, which was published in 1928. Archibald MacLeish's poem "You, Andrew Marvell",[5][6] alludes to the passage of time

and to the growth and decline of empires. In his poem, the speaker, lying on the ground at sunset, feels "the rising of the night". He visualizes sunset, moving from east to west geographically, overtaking the great civilizations of the past, and feels "how swift how secretly/The shadow of the night comes on." B. F. Skinner quotes "But at my back i always hear / time's winged chariot hurrying near", through his character Professor Burris in "Walden Two", who is in a confused mood of desperation, lack of orientation, irresolution and indecision. (Prentice Hall 1976, chapter 31, p. 266). This line is also quoted in Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. The same line appears in full in the opening minutes of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), spoken by the protagonist, pilot and poet Peter Carter: 'But at my back I always hear/Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie/Deserts of vast eternity. Andy Marvell, What a Marvel'.

The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of English lyric poets of the 17th century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion. These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know each other or read each other's work.

an iamb consisted of a short syllable followed by a long syllable. Accentual-syllabic verse[edit] The term was adopted to describe the equivalent meter in accentual-syllabic verse, as composed in English, German, Russian, and other languages. Here, iamb refers to an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A line of iambic tetrameter consists of four such feet in a row:

Andrew Marvell is often described as being a metaphysical poet (using images and word play to express complex ideas and feelings) as so much of his poetry deals with ideas of existence and truth. His poetry is also humorous, often using satire to attack or mock others. His poems are often centred on wealthier people, that is, those at court - high up enough in society to be around the monarch and those in power.

The speaker of the poem is trying to convince his "mistress" that they should seize the day and not hold back from expressing their feelings for each other, and so should sleep together. The fact that this is something he is proposing tells us the couple are not married. Structure and language Structure

The Interregnum was the period between the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II in London on 29 May 1660 which marked the start of the Restoration. During the Interregnum England was under various forms of republican government, for which see Commonwealth of England; this article describes other facets of the Interregnum.

The poem has three sections. In the first stanza the ideal courtship is presented, with extravagant references to the care and devotion with which the speaker would "woo" his lover "had we but time". The second stanza makes it clear that they have not got time, and that death is not only inevitable but imminent. The final stanza proposes that they fight against the progression of time and seek pleasure while they are able.

Carpe diem is a Latin aphorism usually translated "seize the day", taken from a poem in the Odes (book 1, number 11) in 23 BC by the poet Horace

The poem is written in rhyming couplets, a popular format in rhyming poetry.

Iambic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line; iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs. Some poetic forms rely upon iambic tetrameter: triolet, Onegin stanza, Memoriam stanza, long measure (or long meter) ballad stanza. Quantitative verse[edit] The term originally applied to the quantitative meter of Classical Greek poetry, in which

Language In the first stanza there are humorously exaggerated references to traditional romantic ideas. He speaks of spending "An hundred years" to "praise/Thine eyes"and "Two hundred to adore each breast". This is all undermined by the poem's opening words: "Had we but world enough, and time". He is presenting a courtship which may sound wonderful, but is one he states from the outset is impossible. Persuasively he tells his lover "you deserve this state", even though he knows it is all an exaggerated fantasy.

is quite animalistic, and hints at his barelycontained desires. They should not, he thinks, be waiting for death. He speaks of "instant fires", meaning their feelings of desire, urging his mistress that they should "sport us while we may".

Images of death and decay are used in the second stanza to show the lover the pointlessness of resisting. Once dead "then worms shall try/That long preserved virginity". This disgusting image is intended to encourage his lover to give her virginity to the speaker rather than foolishly saving herself for the "worms" when buried. He also makes a pun of her "quaint honour", which could be seen as a reference to her naïve preservation of her virginity even though death ("turn to dust") is inevitable. It is also a reference to her body "quaint" was a euphemism for vagina around the late 16th century - and the idea that in death we become "dust". The second stanza also echoes words from the Christian burial tradition: "dust"and "ashes" are both referred to and act as a reminder to the mistress that life only has one outcome, so waiting is pointless. The rhyming of "dust" and "lust" on lines 29 and 30 effectively summarises the choice the mistress must make. The final line of the second stanza uses parenthetical commas (commas used to enclose thoughts) to convince us (and the lover), that the speaker has logically reached a conclusion: "The grave's a fine and private place,/But none, I think, do there embrace". This acts as a challenge; who would be unreasonable enough to disagree with him?

The final stanza, in which the speaker grows impatient to convince his mistress, is full of references to speed, urgency and passion. The simile "while the youthful hue/Sits on thy skin like morning dew" restates the speaker's desire, with a focus on his mistress' body. The"morning dew" is also an effective simile in that dew very quickly disappears as the day advances, like her youthful appearance. He suggests that "like amorous birds of prey"they should "at once our time devour". This imagery

They should, he suggests "roll all our strength and all/Our sweetness up into one ball". The alliteration of the 's' sounds on the positive words "strength" and"sweetness" are part of a shift in the poem away from the negative language of earlier to more active, more enjoyable words and ideas. Attitudes, themes and ideas The poem in many ways challenges religious, particularly Christian, ideas. He speaks of making the most of life because "yonder all before us lie/Deserts of vast eternity". After life, he suggests, is nothing. Waiting and resisting urges in life is pointless, he suggests.

Hour is also about the preciousness of time to lovers, and presents the idea that time is a force which is against lovers. Sonnet 43 To His Coy Mistress contrasts with Sonnet 43 in that this is a poem about the power and urgency of desire rather than the purity of love.

Sample question In your exam you will be asked to compare a certain aspect of one poem with another. In order to do this, we need to get to know this poem a bit better by considering one of its main aspects. What follows is a sample question which concentrates on one feature of the poem and an answer (not necessarily complete!) to the question. Question Discuss the relationships between men and women in To His Coy Mistress andThe Farmer's Bride, and the way in which they are presented. Answer Points you could make:

In poetry, especially love poetry, time is personified as being the enemy of lovers. Time will bring death, the awareness of which is always with the speaker: "at my back I always hear/Time's winged chariot hurrying near". A chariot is an old type of carriage pulled by horses, commonly associated with war. The final couplet is hopeful of the lovers' chances of making the most of life: "though we cannot make our sun/Stand still, yet we will make him run". The word "will" is definite; the couplet acknowledges that time and death are inevitable, whilst at the same time suggesting that action and determination are the best approaches. The poem is a famous example of the classical idea of "carpe diem" or "seize the day". The speaker is urging his mistress to make the best of life by living it to the full and not simply waiting - pointlessly denying pleasures - for death. This idea clashes with one of the popular movements of the 17th century, Puritanism, which emphasised the importance of denying personal pleasures (especially those considered in any way sinful), and the simple worshipping of God. Comparison Hour

Both poems are about males trying to impose their will on a female. In each, the female is resistant to the relationship although the reasons differ, and in each this resistance is challenged by the male speakers. To His Coy Mistress is an address to the potential lover and is very sensual at times, reflecting the feelings of the speaker for his "mistress". The Farmer's Bride is about the wife and is much less positive in the references to her, presenting her as a confused, scared animal rather than an object of love and desire. Both poems use vocabulary and punctuation to reflect the feelings of the speakers, feelings which are often intended to be kept hidden.