To His Coy Mistress

1. To His Coy Mistress An Analysis by Nicolle Domek & Emily Bunnell

2. To His Coy Mistress

3. Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell lived during the Renaissance era and grew up in the Yorkshire town of Hull. His father was a lecturer at Holy Trinity Church which is where he later began his four year studies at the age of twelve. However, after his father drowned, Marvell abandoned his studies and began traveling extensively. He later spent most of his time as a tutor and it is believed that this is when he wrote some of his greatest lyrics. He then became a well known politician as he was elected into parliament in 1660 and in these times of tremendous political upheaval, Marvell was most likely swayed away from writing for a while. Many of his poems published at the time began to make him rather unpopular by many Republicans and Royalists alike. Quite suddenly, Marvell soon died of a fever, however it was rumored that he was poisoned by Jesuits – who were opposed to his satirist views. After his death, his housekeeper (Who had pretended to publicly be Marvell’s wife to help save his estate from business partners) came across this poem “To His Coy Mistress” and published it five years later. Marvell is now remembered as one of the greatest poets of the Renaissance era even though he published very little of his political and satirist works, and an added element of mystery continues to surround this great poets life.

4. Renaissance Era “To His Coy Mistress” was written during the Renaissance era, which began in the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century. The Renaissance period was an era marked by the renewal of classical learning and interests in math, science, history, art, and Greek and Latin texts. It was also marked by a change in the way people thought about themselves and the world. The historical context is shown in the poem through the questioning of time and social standings, as well as several religious references. In this poem, Andrew Marvell presents this new idea regarding relationships to an (unknown) mistress. He presents new ideas of thought through comparing worldly objects to humans as well as through the pressures he places on the intended reader of this poem. His poem follows a known and structured form throughout the entire piece and doesn’t stray far from the general guidelines of poetry at this time. With the creation of the printing press during this era, many of his works were pushed to get published - however not many of them actually were due to his publicity issues in politics. Andrew Marvell also made many trips to Italy during his life, which is where the Renaissance school of thought first emerged and this is displayed clearly through his poem in regards to the way that people acknowledged themselves in the world. This was shown in this specific work through the references made to life and death as well as the sun, which symbolizes a higher and godly figure or idea. Other religious references were made through the mention of the years of the flood, ashes, and the conversion of Jews. Marvell uses these phrases, as well as the overall topic of the poem to question religion, which was a common practice during the Renaissance era.

5. Themes • One theme of the poem is time. The poem tells us that life is short and we should experience as much as we can before it passes by. Marvell shows this in the entirety of the poem; the whole idea is that there’s not enough time to take things slow and that people should do things before they don’t have any time left. • Another theme is sex and the idea of it being a special, yet casual, emotional experience. The author ties these two themes together by using sex as something people should experience when they’re young and have enough time.

6. Title Meaning and Tone At first glance, the title reveals the simple context of the poem – that it will be some sort of text addressed to a shy or bashful mistress of some sort, but revisiting the title, it is can now be inferred that the title represents the fact that the author is trying to persuade a woman to engage in sexual activities, however he bashfulness makes her hesitant. The title shows how persistent the man is towards this coy woman and it invokes feelings of love and its relentlessness. These inferences drawn from the title could lead one to believe that the tone of the poem will be a formal and persistent letter of some sort, however that is not entirely the case here. The author uses ironic and sarcastic phrases throughout the poem and this adds a dramatic effect to a somewhat casual subject – as Marvell makes it out to be.

7. Connotation Rhythm: The metric pattern of the poem is iambic tetrameter. It’s the normal we speak so the poem is less formal sounding and more like a conversation. It reads normal and smoothly. Melody: The two lines that make up each couplet rhyme with each other. The rhyming makes the poem more catchy and pleasant to read. The majority of the consonants in the poem are mutes, which invoke a sense of slowness while reading it. This increases the dramatics of the poem. Imagery: The poem uses personification of time into a male person. It uses metaphors by comparing the lady’s heart to the idea of sex and the sun to time. Marvell also uses apostrophe in his poem. This is shown because the speaker’s mistress is essentially absent from the poem by never answering the speaker, but, she is there in spirit. The reader can feel that the mistress has a role and gives life to the poem, although she never actually speaks. All of these aspects of imagery help readers visualize different aspects of the poem as they’re reading it.

8. Form, Purpose, and Shifts • There is a shift in perspective between the first and second stanzas of the poem. In the first one, the author describes what their life would be like and what they would do if they had enough time and how nice it would be. The last two stanzas go against his ideas in the first stanza because he says they do not have enough time to do all the things they would like to, so they should get right to it. • The form of the poem is a lyric because it expresses thoughts and emotions rather than telling a story. This ties nicely into the purpose of the poem, which is to express an emotional experience, or in this sense, a lack thereof.

9. Overview The overall meaning we can take away from this poem is that life is short, time passes by quickly, so enjoy it while you can.