ANDREW MARVELL [1621–1678]
To His Coy Mistress°
Born in Hull, Yorkshire, Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge. After traveling in Europe, he worked as a
tutor and in a government office (as assistant to John Milton) and later
became a member of Parliament for Hull. Marvell was known in his
lifetime as a writer of rough satires in verse and prose. His “serious”
poetry, like “To His Coy Mistress,” a famous exploration of the carpe
diem theme, was not published until after his death.
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain.° I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.°
My vegetable° love should grow living and growing
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,° dignity
Nor would I love at lower rate.
5
10
15
20
1540
Coy: In the seventeenth century, “coy” could carry its older meaning, “shy,” or the
modern sense of “coquettish.”
5–7. Indian Ganges’, Humber: The Ganges River in India, with its distant,
romantic associations, contrasts with the Humber River, running through Hull in
northeast England, Marvell’s home town.
10. conversion . . . Jews: An occurrence foretold, in some traditions, as one of
the concluding events of human history.
