Marvell, To His Coy Mistress

TO HIS COY MISTRESS

ANDREW MARVELL

Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) was a member of the English Parliament for twenty years, starting in 1658. His poetry, which he wrote for his own enjoyment, was not published until after his death. “To His Coy Mistress” is his best-known poem.

1

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.

5

A river in India

A river in England that flows past the city of Hull

To write poems or songs of unrequited love

Thou by the Indian Gangesº side

Should’st rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humberº would complain.º I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

10

Till the conversion of the Jews.º

My vegetable loveº should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow.

The belief that Jews would be converted to Christianity during the Last Judgment; the end of time

A slow-growing love

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze:

15

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,

20

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

756

25

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 honor turn to dust,

30

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,

35

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may;

and now, like am’rous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour,

40

Slowly chewing jaws

Than languish in his slow-chaptº power,

Let us roll all our strength, and all

Our sweetness, up into one ball;

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Through

Thoroughº the iron gates of life.

45

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

READING ARGUMENTS

  1. “To His Coy Mistress” is divided into three sections. Paraphrase each section’s main idea in a single sentence.

  2. What does the phrase “coy mistress” suggest about the occasion and audience for the poem? How do you think the “coy mistress” would respond to the speaker’s arguments?

  3. How does the speaker’s attitude toward time—and toward his relationship with the lady he addresses—change in line 21? How does this shift support his argument? What does he say will happen to the lady if she is not persuaded by his poem?

  4. The concluding stanza of the poem begins with the phrase, “Now therefore.” How does the speaker develop a deductive argument in the lines that follow?

WRITING ARGUMENTS

  1. Write a letter from the “coy mistress” to the poem’s speaker refuting his arguments.

    757

  2. “To His Coy Mistress” is generally considered to be a poem on the theme of carpe diem, which means “seize the day.” The full quotation comes from the Roman poet Horace: “Seize the day, and place no trust in tomorrow.” Does this seem like a good philosophy of life? Write an argumentative essay that develops your position on this issue.