To His Coy Mistress Summary

The poem is in the form of metaphysical theory. "To His Coy Mistress" suits the poem's title by Andrew Marvell, with the horrific intensity of the speaker obsessing over death during life. The fear of mortality seems to take control of the poem, displacing the speaker's desire for sensuality.

Summary

In the first part of the poem, the man starts describing, when given a chance, the lady how he would engage himself in worshipping her. Now doing the worshipping, he describes many terms in the poem which give proof of the same the terms are "vegetable love", love you ten years before the flood," which gives the fact that man describes or worships the lady very slowly and steadily as starting with 100 years the man spent the 100 years to worship her eye, her hairline and in 200 years he spent to praise her breasts. Overall it took him almost thirty thousand years to give worship to all rest of the things.

In the second part, the poet took much time to detail the woman's beauty and all the other reasons she deserved to be praised. The poet tells the woman that he hears "time's winged chariot hurrying near" as time is rushing. So, the poem's tone turns into the state rush, which means the state of a desperate being and a state of urgency. He continues to praise her, but he informs the woman that the time is rushing, so he does not have enough time to adore his girl. Experiencing some "deserts of vast eternity," she will lose some of her beauty. Her virginity will "turn to dust," along with her honors. The feeling of anxiety is there, even if it is not staggering.

In the final lines, the poet finds an intention. He thinks of being together as if they still have a chance to be. They are still young and attractive, so they should not bind themselves to thinking about the future. The poet solicits his love for his lady and asks her to pay attention to him. The term 'sport' here is referred to some sexual activity. The poet compares them to 'amorous birds of prey,' referring to their unforced urges and hoisting them above and further down man. The poet tries to fundamentally hike up their impulse past existence by venturing to "tear our pleasures with rough strife through the iron gates of life."

Rhyme Scheme

"To His Coy Mistress" is an example of an iambic tetrameter couplet poetry, as shown by the first two lines. Since some stanzas are longer than others, the exact length of the poem cannot be determined. The poem has a form, yet that form is not preset. So the poem is in couplets form, and the rhyming scheme is AABB.

Themes

1. Time

According to the poet, time Is dangerous, and the villain is out to get him; he even wants to win time, and he wants to stop time and disturb the script and control time of the poem; the poet Andrew Marvell lived during the fantastic time of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton and all know how they both make a boom in the time but no one can win the time and it stays mysterious to us. So, the poem allows exploring that mystery.

2. Freedom

The speaker feels very trapped and thinks about how to get out of this. Andrew is constantly on the cycle between images of freedom and confinement. So, at some passes of time, the poem feels very claustrophobic, but the poem is the utmost genuine piece.

3. Mortality

The word "death," sometimes known as "mortality," is given its stanza in Andrew Marvell's timeless poem from the 1650s. The speaker explains his interpretation of death. While the speaker's description of it in words is exquisite, his vision is far from optimistic. To him, passing away represents the utmost loss of power. It's not quite as depressing as it seems. The speaker is a highly funny man, and his handling of mortality results in some of the most enjoyable pick-up lines since John Donne's "The Flea."

Literary Devices

It is a carpe diem poem. Carpe diem is Latin for "seize the day" and originates in Horace's Odes. Many poems match a variety of hedonistic activities. In each of the lines, the poet uses an iambic tetrameter. A metrical foot combines an unstressed syllable with a stressed syllable. The iambic tetrameter is the common form of speech, and they produce the song like cadence. It is very popular in English poetry.

About the Author

The poet Andrew Marvell is an English poet who was born on 31 March 1621 in Winestead, England, and died in London on 18 August 1678. He was educated at hull grammar school and trinity college, Cambridge taking BA in 1639. He wrote many poems, which are very noticeable in his poetry career, including "Upon Appleton House" and "The Garden".