Timeless Persuasion

“To His Coy Mistress” written by Andrew Marvell appears to be a description of a young

man striving to seduce his mistress, however Marvell carefully uses a persona to examine the

theme of time and maintains the objections it creates and the conditions it demands on us. Time

is made convincing through the impressions of carpe diem, beauty and death. The persona

accentuates the ideas these impressions create in order to affirm the idea that time flies so we

must “seize the day”.

In the premise of the poem Marvell actualizes a picturesque scene where the young man

can concentrate on each day admiring his mistress, he strives for avoidance from time by asking

“[h]ad we but world enough, and time”(1) establishing a scheme that is non existing. From the

beginning, time is present and the shortness of life is pondered. If only longevity was not so brief

they would be together every moment of the day: this is indicated through the applied pronoun

“we” (3) within the first stanza of the poem. He is confirming to his mistress how much he

adores and cares for her and he would envelop their life together. He feels that this is the

appropriate time for the both of them to take advantage of life and is in no way being out-of-

line with her.

Marvell goes on to state: “ This coyness, lady, were no crime” (2). By emphasizing this it

insinuates the mistress’s rejection as an actual “crime” (2). He believes that the mistress holding

onto her virginity has no purpose and with each passing day it will lose value if the time is not

seized. Time is of the essence, so the young man frequently keeps showing his admiration for the

mistress hoping to urge her to take advantage of the ti...

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... it and being accosted by it. Marvel alludes

that the “sun” (5) will have to keep up with them in their lustful venture. Closing with the vision

of the “sun” (5) grants us to see time in its shape, it cannot aid in its passing and they can

become one in it.

To conclude, Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” completely examines the

concepts of carpe diem, beauty and death. Through these concepts he maintains how compelling

time really is. Marvell proposes that at any occasion you should seize the heat of the moment

because there is no point in waiting and wasting an excellent moment as time does fly.

Works Cited

Marvell, Andrew. “To His Coy Mistress”. Literature and the Writing Process. Ed.

Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk, and Linda S.

Coleman. 9 th ed. Boston: Longman- Pearson, 2011. 570-71. Print.