To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell wrote his short poem To His Coy Mistress in a certain way to receive the answer that he wanted out of his mistress. Marvell uses meter, imagery, and tone to persuade his lady to further commit in their relationship. This poem has a very strong carpe diem, or seize the day, theme which is conveyed throughout the poem. In general, the meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. Marvell uses pauses as well as runs one line into the next without a pause to break up the neat pattern that the rhyme scheme of the poem imposes.
The first two lines, for example, contain internal pauses that reak the tetrameter into shorter units; Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. The third line contains no pauses and runs directly into the forth, so that the rhyme runs opposite the rhythm of the couplet. Near the end of the poem, the lines seem to be coming out faster than at the beginning, creating a sense of urgency from the speaker.
These last few lines are the lines in which the speaker talks about how the two should seize the day, and live life to the fullest. The use of imagery throughout the poem is an effective means of conveying his message to the lady. His references to the Great Flood and the conversion of the Jews are both examples of biblical imagery. His eternal love towards the lady is backed up by the timelessness of the Bible. The references of the tomb are perhaps the greatest images of all, the images of death.
Nothing depicts the urgency and shortness of life better than death. Images that are implied in the last stanza are those of a race against time. The goal is to try to beat time, and though time will eventually win, the runners must try to keep up with time for as long as possible. And because no way exists to beat time, Marvell suggests that they must live ife to the fullest. Marvells excellent use of tone helps to prove his argument with his mistress. In the first section, the poem takes a loving, romantic tone.
We would sit down, and think which way to walk, and pass our long loves day. Marvells romantic style of writing helps to prove his debate that he loves his mistress more than anything in the world. The tone undergoes a drastic change in the second stanza. I always hear times winged chariot hurrying near. This quote from the poem describes how Marvell fears the shortness of life, and the lack of time with which the two lovers have to share together. His deathly tone is effective because of the inevitability of death in everybodys life.
The last section is a call to action, thus, though we cannot make out sun stand still, yet we will make him run. Lines like these create a tone of an urgent need to get as much done as possible, which is very similar to the carpe diem theme. Marvells poem, written almost 500 years ago, is still a great, somewhat controversial poem. The content of the poem is timeless, and is still a very realistic poem. The carpe diem theme of the poem is one of the reasons that the poem remains appropriate no matter when it is read.
