To His Coy MistressAndrew MarvellCommentary and Analysis by Erin Eller
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| Haward Manuscript of the Poem |
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;
An 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-chapped 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.
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| “Doorway to the Stars” by Josephine Wall |
Overview:
“To His Coy Mistress” is a metaphysical poem in which the speaker attempts to persuade his resistant lover that they should have sexual intercourse. He explains that if they had all the time in the world, he would have no problem with their relationship moving this slowly. However, he goes on to explain, they are mortal, and once they die they will be unable to be intimate together. The poem appears to serve dual purposes: first, to persuade the mistress to love, and second, to comment on mortality in its inevitability and grotesqueness. It is the latter objective which adds the philosophical aspect to this love poem.
This poem is admired for its metaphysical imagery. Metaphysical poetry was primarily known for the use of extended metaphor and conceit, as well as unlikely comparisons between abstract and worldly ideas. The term “metaphysical” was applied to a small group of 17th century poets, Marvell among them. The poems tended to have some philosophical bases, and this combined with experimental stylistic aspects helped to characterize them as metaphysical.
“To His Coy Mistress” is written in iambic tetrameter, and rhymes in couplets (AA, BB, CC, DD, and so on). It has been recognized as one of his most famous poems, and there is speculation as to whether or not 20th century Modernist poet T.S. Eliot was responding to Marvell in his famous poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Clearly, Marvell’s work has continued to have an impact on literature, especially posthumously. Citations??
Sources:
Jokinen, Anniina. “Metaphysical Poets.” http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaintro.htm
The Poetry Foundation. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173954
The Poetry Foundation. “Andrew Marvell.” http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/andrew-marvell
“To His Coy Mistress.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_His_Coy_Mistress
Image Sources:
Manuscript of Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’, The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS Don. b.8,pp.283 and 284 (the Haward Manuscript), in The Poems of Andrew Marvell, by Andrew Marvell. 2003. Rev. Ed. Ed. Nigel Smith.Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2007.
Wall, Josephine. “Doorway to the Stars.” http://www.josephinewall.co.uk/doorway.html