Poetry Analysis
Andrew Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress"
In reading, and analyzing this poem, I found some very interesting points that Marvell brought up. I believe that the main point that he was trying to convey is that life is very short, so while we are here with each other (him and his love) let us procreate, and make love in accordance with what we were put here to do. When you read this poem, you get the sense that he is being flirtatious with the reader, which also makes the reader think that he was being flirtatious with the mistress in order to convince her to copulate.
As we read through the body of the poem, we discover many flatteries that Marvell is using on the lady, such as "Nor would I love at lower rate" suggesting that this lady is worth every ounce of attention that he is giving her, "And into ashes all my lust" suggesting that if she were to let him make love to her, all of his lust would be slaked so to speak.
Engraving of Andrew Marvell
English: Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
Andrew Marvell College - Aerial Photos February 21...In the last part of the poem, Marvell suggests to the reader, and the mistress that he is going in for the kill, or he is going to take this lady's virginity from her. The sequence "Now let us sport while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey" suggests that he is concluding his offering by saying in a more tasteful way, "let's have sex, I have lusted after you since day one, and now this man is going to have his way."
In conclusion, Marvell basically says, "look, time is devouring us, it's gonna be now or never, I'm starting to become disinterested, you say you want to wait, but we can't make time stand...
To His Coy Mistress
You're right in your analysis of the poem. Andrew Marvell's message is not shocking by today's standards but would have been thought daring when the poem was written in the 1600's. We're fortunate that good poetry withstands the test of time.
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