Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may,. And now, like amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapped power. Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Through the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem. Metaphysical Poetry — A brief guide to metaphysical poetry from the Poetry Foundation, with links to the work of other metaphysical poets and an extended essay on metaphysical poetry by Stephanie Burt. LitCharts Teacher Editions.
Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Reblogged this on Writing hints and competitions and commented: Another Marvell-ous poem and interpretation. By far this is my favourite poet, his words span the centuries and are the encouragement and embodiment of all that poetry stands for. Only my opinion of course. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address.
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Share this: Tweet. Like this: Like Loading XperDunn October 14, at pm. Jean Buckingham October 14, at pm. Jeanie Buckingham October 13, at pm. Bobby Fairfield October 13, at pm. The speaker claims that he would not have made such requests if they—he and his beloved—had limitless time in the world. They would sit somewhere and would plan the ways in which they can spend their time.
The speaker would imagine the condition if they had a limitless life. His beloved would sit beside the river Ganges and collect precious stones from the riverside. On the other hand, the speaker would sit on the side of the Humber River and wait for her to return to him.
He would love her, and his love would increase as time passes. The speaker also claims that her beloved could refuse him as much as she could. He would not mind as they will have enough time to make love. Furthermore, the speaker claims his love a vegetable love i.
It will grow more than the width of an empire, and its growth will be very gradual. He says that he would have consumed a hundred years in praising her eyes and a hundred years in gazing at her forehead. Similarly, it would take him two hundred years to praise her each breast, while thirty thousand years for the rest of the body.
In the last age, she will show up to him; after which he would be able to explain her. All of the supposition that the speaker makes in the previous lines are only possible if they had enough or limitless life in this world.
Everything in the world seems to be passing away. He says that the other world is waiting for us like a vast desert where everything will vanish and turn to dust. The same is the case with your beauty.
He says that in the grave, her preserved virginity will be attacked by worms, and all that honor, for which she has saved her virginity, will turn to dust. The last part of the poem focuses on summing up all the previous suppositions and consequences of the shortage of time. The speaker says that youth is the best part of life to enjoy. At this age, one is energetic and passionate. The skin is as fresh as the morning dew. We should live a life like amorous birds.
Let us devour the time before it devours us. The speaker, furthermore, adds that we should unite all our strength and passion along with our sweetness in order to get our pleasure. With our strength and passion, we will tear the gate to get out happiness.
The poem is in the form of iambic tetrameter. This meter corresponds to four sets of two syllables in every line, i. These include:. The implicit implied and hidden comparison between two objects is called a metaphor. A metaphor used in this poem is:. Here the speaker compares his love with vegetables on the basis of the shared quality of slow and gradual growth. It was first published in , in Miscellaneous Poems, three years after the death of the author.
Marvell is known today as one of the metaphysical poets alongside such names as John Donne, Henry Vaughan, George Herbert and Richard Crashaw because he wrote on subjects such as man's place in the universe, existence, love and religion. To His Coy Mistress is a clever, well structured poem, a dramatic monologue in effect, the speaker progressing logically through the stages of persuasion in an effort to turn the lady's head and heart.
As you can see, the argument builds up through the three sections of the poem, starting off with the speaker's assertion that the lady's coyness shyness, modesty wouldn't be deemed a moral crime if they had all the world in which to spend time together. There then follows a series of potential scenarios laid out by the speaker to illustrate exactly what he means.
There is a relaxed tone to these lines, spiced with hyperbole and allusion. She, being of Indian descent perhaps, could go walking by the river Ganges in search of rubies in legend the river originates from a huge jujube tree near a hermitage where stands some stairs made of rubies and corals. Likewise, he, being from Hull in East Yorkshire, England, could go walking by the tidal river Humber.
Only he wouldn't be looking for precious stones, he'd be complaining - perhaps unhappy with the distance between him and his lady. And there would also be time, thousands of years, for him to admire her physical beauty, her eyes, her breasts and so on. Keeping regular rhyme and rhythm throughout, the poem culminates in what many think is an alchemical climax of sorts, a coming together of male and female elements, with the emphasis on a passionate fusion, strong enough to affect even the sun.
To His Coy Mistress has been rightly lauded as a small masterpiece of a poem, primarily because it packs so much into a relatively small space. It manages to carry along on simple rhyming couplets the complex passions of a male speaker, hungry for sexual liason with a lady, before all devouring time swallows them up.
The argument begins with an appeal to the coy mistress based on the idea that, if time and space were limitless, they could spend their days in leisure, she by the exotic Ganges river for instance, he by the ebb and flow of the Humber.
Sex needn't be a priority in this fantasy world. The speaker's ironic tone even allows for his love of the lady a decade before the old testament flood, and she could say no to his advances up to the time when the Jews convert to Christianity - which would never ever happen of course.
Years he would spend growing his love, like a vegetable grows slowly, rooted and strong, in the earth. And he could bide his time admiring her physical beauty - her eyes, forehead, breasts and other parts. This imaginary scenario is a clever and slightly ludicrous set up. He is clearly in awe of her body and totally wants her heart but because she refuses to comply he introduces this idea of a timeless, boundless love.
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