To his coy mistress 3

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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To His Coy Mistress " To His Coy Mistress," a poem by Andrew Marvell, generates an understanding of death and paradox through the expressive language of the speaker to the mistress. In the poem, he implements metaphors with hypothetical situations while describing his love for her in a timeless world. He clearly explains that he would love and adore her immensely, then suddenly changes his demeanor by acknowledging that a timeless world does not exist. This poem expresses appreciation for death and paradox through the demeanor, actions and words of the poet.

The speaker begins his serenade in the first stanza by stating "Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, lady, were no crime" (1-2). The speaker is informing his mistress that if he had all the time in the world, he would spend it adoring every part of her body. This quote in the poem foreshadows an appreciation of paradox for the reader since the speaker is talking of a timeless world that does not exist.

The speaker tells the mistress how long his love will grow, and how vast it will become. He changes his tone after this stanza in order to effectively explain why he is unable to love her in such a manner: "But at my back I always hear / Time's wingéd chariot hurrying near; / And yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity" (21-24). This is another paradoxical quote that the speaker utilizes to effectively develop appreciation for this poem. The speaker argues that the mistress should not waste her youth like those before who are unable to taste new experiences because they are now dead.

In the second stanza, the speaker utilizes paradox to convince the mistress further: "Thy beauty shall no more be found,