To His Coy Mistress

• “An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast”

  • shows that his true interest lies in lust (not much discussion of her personality/love)
  • blazon (features and body parts as qualities)
• “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near”

  • the speaker is bound by time - it is out of his control, links to carpe diem
• “… worms shall try That long-preserved virginity”

  • He has tried to have sex with her but she doesn’t want it so he is trying to persuade her by threatening that she shall die a virgin
  • it was expected of society that women preserve their virginity
• “Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.”

  • she is merely referred to as ‘Lady’ - she has no name, which suggests her inferiority
  • both ”World“ and “Time” are capitalised, which suggests that they are more powerful than the speaker and the woman
  • he is saying that if they had more time she could be playful but they are running out of time - should get to the point
• Written in 1650s during the Interregnum era where there was an unstable government between the execution of Charles I and the arrival of Charles II
• Andrew Marvell was a metaphysical poet, a member of the House of Commons, had a large impact of politics on his life and was known to disappear and travel for periods of time in Europe.
• Metaphysical poetry contained strange imagery and paradoxes, were complicated and witty and believed in “memento mori” which meant “remember that you have to die” in Latin.
• FORM

  3 stanzas with varying length which rebels against the 17th century style of poetry - there is no rigid structure or form.

  
  

  AABBCCDD rhyme scheme - gives some structure and rhythm, which mirrors the speaker’s intellect but leaves a playful tone.
• THEMES

  • love and death
  • love and loss
  • love and sex
• LINKS TO GATSBY

  • the blazon links to Nick’s description of Myrtle
  • unrequited love links to Gatsby and Daisy