To His Coy Mistress By Andrew Marvell

3 Pages 753 Words

In the poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, time is one of the main points of the poem. The theme is live life to its fullest and seize the day. The narrator is trying to lure a woman into sleeping with him by using time as an excuse, much like today’s times.. He (the narrator) talks about this woman’s beauty and how he will love her forever but forever may be tomorrow. This poem symbolizes living every day like it is your last.
The narrator states, “then worms shall try-That long preserved virginity…”(27-28) that lets you know that he is trying to get this woman to sleep with him. The narrator says he would love her “Ten years before the flood” Which basically means forever so she might as well just sleep with him. This poem was written in the 1600’s and in those days men were praised for sleeping with many women before they were married but when the women did it they were frowned upon, much like today’s times. Although we (society) are getting better about being so gender biased it is still thought that a man that sleep around is a “pimp” and when women do it they are considered promiscuous. The woman is trying to resist his lures but he probably makes he think about if she really wants to remain a virgin since she may die tomorrow and then she would remain a virgin for eternity.
The narrator tells this woman how beautiful she is and how he loves looking at her, but then he says well It won’t last forever so “Let us sport us while we may”(37). He is saying let us show each other off while we’re still young and still beautiful. He also tells her that yes she is beautiful now but she won’t be forever, “Thy beauty shall no more be found”(25). So he is trying to say well sleep with me soon because, yes I might love you forever, but time is running out on your beauty. Which kind of alludes to maybe he really won’t love her forever, unless she sleeps with him. He tells...