Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mis :: essays research papers

The Non-Discriminatory Nature of Timein Andrew Marvell&8217s&8220To His overmodest MistressTime passes. Its journey is oblivious to power, weakness, beauty, or mercy. The constitution of time itself lies in its unrelenting feeler through life, until we are removed from it&8217s favor and then wither and die. The purpose of most carpe diem poetry is to draw a character&8217s circumspection (usually the female) to the pressing nature of time&8217s progress, as well as illustrating the bountiful rewards of seizing the moment and giving into the momentary passions of life. Andrew Marvell&8217s poem &8220To His Coy Mistress is a classic example of carpe diem poetry, exemplifying the foreboding nature of time. It&8217s distinction from similar works, however, lies in its inherent ability to express the ominous nature of time&8217s advancement in terms of both the male and female&8217s perspectives. Rather than lament about missed opportunities, &8220To His Coy Mistress really serves t o force one to consider how we compartmentalize time into stages of life, and thence commit ourselves to its mercy without allowing ourselves to relish its immediate rewards. Marvell&8217s sense of time affects both his characters in unique ways, and therefore unites their plight as a human cause rather than a gender based issue. Andrew Marvell expresses this point by structuring his poem into ternary components that propose the issues of time&8217s existence, its limited availability, and finally a solution of sorts.The first section of &8220To His Coy Mistress serves the task of identifying that time is a limited commodity, and thus can not be wasted. Immediately the speaker states openly that &8220Had we but world enough, and time, This backwardness, lady, were no crime (1-2). The implication here, if taken at face value, suggests that the mistress&8217 coyness is a crime only because of the lack of time available. The speaker continues with &8220We would sit down, and think w hich way To walk, and pass our long love&8217s day (3-4). The tone of such a verse is overtly suspicious, automatically suggestive of the insidious nature of a man hungry to feed his lust. However, another possibility lies in the read message Marvell puts forth in his verse. The spoken comments themselves suggest that &8220We would sit down, and think&8230 and &8220pass our long love&8217s day (3,4). The impression given is one of sound out merriment in love. The speaker associates the passion of his coy mistress with his own, creating a sense of understanding and common ground.