Poetry Term Paper

8 Pages 2107 Words

g near” (21-22). Marvell is concerned about death in this situation. He is now pleading to his woman because he feels threatened by time. He tells her that time is running out and that they had better sleep together before it is too late. Marvell solidifies this argument a few lines later by presenting the idea of death and the fact that they can not have sexual intercourse once they are dead. He writes, “The grave’s a fine and private place/ But none, I think, do there embrace” (31-32). This time, Marvell is trying to scare his woman into having intercourse with him. If she truly believes that she might die a virgin, she will be more apt to sleep with him after hearing this well-made point.
In the final stanza of the poem, Marvell presents a solution to all the predicaments he had previously mentioned. “While the youthful hue/ Sits on thy skin like morning dew/ And while thy willing soul transpires…” (33-35), he writes, proposing that while they are both young and willing, they should have sex. He then suggests the type of sexual activity they participate in: “Let us roll all our strength and all/ Our sweetness into one ball” (41-42) suggesting what is known in modern terms as sixty-nine.

Many of the tools Marvell used in his poem “To His Coy Mistress” to seduce women are utilized in this century. First, Marvell’s argument that his vegetable love will grow for his woman is comparable to the words that men commonly use today. Men will tell a woman they love her simply to get her in bed. They try to convince their woman that they will always be there to hold and to cherish them, so committing to sex is a...