Summary of "to his coy mistress" | Summaries Literature

To His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell

Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase which means ‘snatch the day.’ The phrase occurs in Horace's

Odes (I. xi) :

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida

Aetas : carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.

Horace’s words in short mean : ‘Enjoy yourself while you can.’ This is also the motto of

Epicureanism which advocates the ‘eat, drink, and be merry ‘ philosophy in view of the brevity

of life and the inevitability of death. Roman poet Ausonius (4th c.) was another practitioner of

this philosophy, which is also evident in the Goliardic verse and in much French and English

poetry. The Cavalier poets of England were among the last to elaborate the idea, for example, in

Heerick’s poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time which begins: ‘ Gather ye Rose-buds

while ye may’, but it has never completely lost its hold on the poets’ imagination – as in evident

in the work, for instance, of W. B. Yeats. The best exponent of carpe diem theory is Omar

Khayam whose lines of Rubayiat, one and all, are overtly Epicurean. For example:

How long, how long, in infinite pursuit

Of This and That endeavour and dispute?

Better be merry with fruitful Grape

Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. (39)

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me

The Quarrel of the Universe let be :

And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht

Make Game of that which makes as much of thee.(45)

This sounds like Donne’s line : “For God’s sake, hold your tongue and let me love.”

For in and out, above, about, below,

‘Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-Show,

Play’d in a Box whose Candle is the sun

Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. (46)

These lines point to the basic insignificance of life, ‘where youth grows pale, spectre-thin and

dies ; / Where but to think is to be full of sorrow / and leaden-eyed despairs, / Where Beauty

cannot keep her lustrous eyes, / Or new Love pine at them beyond tomorrow.’ Ode to a

Nightingale (Keats).

To His Coy Mistress is included in Marvell’s Miscellaneous Poems, which was published in

1681, three years after his death. It is a fine specimen of love lyric based on the theory of Carpe

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To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase which means ‘snatch the day.’ The phrase occurs in Horace's Odes (I. xi) : Dum loquimur, fugerit invida Aetas : carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. Horace’s words in short mean : ‘Enjoy yourself while you can.’ This is also the motto of Epicureanism which advocates the ‘eat, drink, and be merry ‘ philosophy in view of the brevity of life and the inevitability of death. Roman poet Ausonius (4th^ c.) was another practitioner of this philosophy, which is also evident in the Goliardic verse and in much French and English poetry. The Cavalier poets of England were among the last to elaborate the idea, for example, in Heerick’s poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time which begins: ‘ Gather ye Rose-buds while ye may’, but it has never completely lost its hold on the poets’ imagination – as in evident in the work, for instance, of W. B. Yeats. The best exponent of carpe diem theory is Omar Khayam whose lines of Rubayiat, one and all, are overtly Epicurean. For example: How long, how long, in infinite pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute? Better be merry with fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. (39) Or But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me The Quarrel of the Universe let be : And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht Make Game of that which makes as much of thee.(45) This sounds like Donne’s line : “For God’s sake, hold your tongue and let me love.” Or For in and out, above, about, below, ‘Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-Show, Play’d in a Box whose Candle is the sun Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. (46) These lines point to the basic insignificance of life, ‘where youth grows pale, spectre-thin and dies ; / Where but to think is to be full of sorrow / and leaden-eyed despairs, / Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, / Or new Love pine at them beyond tomorrow.’ Ode to a Nightingale (Keats). To His Coy Mistress is included in Marvell’s Miscellaneous Poems, which was published in 1681, three years after his death. It is a fine specimen of love lyric based on the theory of Carpe

Diem and is yet marked by ‘metaphysical’ characteristics. Carpe Diem or Hedonism is the desperate bid to outwit the onslaught of time by engagement in material delight. The whole of To His Coy Mistress is suffused with this spirit. The poem has three stanzas, each having a definite purpose. The poem is written in a syllogistic pattern. The first stanza serves the purpose of introduction, the second as argumentation and the third as conclusion. While the process of argumentation or ratiocination, one of the chief characteristics of metaphysical poetry, is very clear and pointed, the poem is deeply concentrative / marked by deep concentration of thought. The first stanza opens dramatically with an argument. The poet tells his lady love, ‘ the coy mistress’ in clear terms and very pointedly that if they could love through eternity, he would, as her beauty deserved, spend thousands of years just for the appreciation of her physical beauty. He would spend one hundred years on her eyes and forehead, two hundred years on each breast, thirty thousand on the rest of the organs of her body. While at least an age was necessary to appreciate the beauty of a single organ of her body, the last age he would spend exploring the beauty that lay in her heart. Obviously, while Marvell lays stress more on physical charm and the attraction of the flesh, he gives less importance to the heart. As a matter of fact, Epicurean philosophy or hedonistic philosophy is predominantly conspicuous in the poet’s emphasis on the enjoyment of sensuous pleasures. Still, the hyperboles are not inappropriate if we take into account what Francis Bacon says in his essay On Love : “ The speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love.” Bacon saves Marvell just we are about to laugh at his hyperbolic statement. While the first stanza poignantly points out the brevity of life and the need of making the most of the time in hand, the second stanza expresses the poet’s awareness of the approaching death

‘Time’s winged chariot hurrying near’. He pleads with his coy mistress that before them lie the vast deserts of eternity, and the day is not far when her ‘long preserved virginity’ would be consumed by the worms in her grave. Not only would her virginity be a meal for the worms, but also his own lust that is raging like fire in his body would die down and turn into ashes. If they waste their time and pass into the grave without enjoying the sensuous pleasures, they would miss the chance forever because in the private chambers of their graves, they would not have an opportunity to embrace each other. So the poet exhorts his lady love to ‘hurry up as it’s time please’, to use the language of T. S. Eliot. The third stanza concludes the argument and the poet opens the stanza with the words, ‘now, therefore…’ the words that are used when an argument is concluded. He pleads with his fiancée that in view of the brevity of life and youth, they should have immediate communion. They should not lose a moment, and as long as the youthful hue sits on her skin that reflects the flaming passion of her soul through every pore, they should begin the love-sport. They should consume the present hours like amorous birds of prey rather than languish in the ‘slow-chapt chamber’. They should unite to form a single ball, totally effacing their separate identities and set it rolling and tear asunder the obstacles in their way, ‘the iron gates of life’. They cannot make the sun stand still, but they may send it on the run, giving it no scope to interfere with their sport of love. The poem, which is syllogistic (deductive) in pattern with two premises and a conclusion, also betrays several other features of metaphysical poetry. The first is concentration. The poem is from start to finish is concentrative and the focal point is the poet’s insistence on his beloved not to waste time but gather the rose buds while they may. This point is argued out in three stanzas,

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