“To His Coy Mistress” Introduction

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“To His Coy Mistress” Summary

“To His Coy Mistress” Themes

• 

  Love and Death

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To His Coy Mistress”

• Lines 1-2

  Had we but world enough and time, 
  This coyness, lady, were no crime. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-7

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-12

  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 
  Vaster than empires and more slow; 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-18

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-22

  For, lady, you deserve this state, 
  Nor would I love at lower rate. 
         But at my back I always hear 
  Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-27

  And yonder all before us lie 
  Deserts of vast eternity. 
  Thy beauty shall no more be found; 
  Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound 
  My echoing song;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 27-32

  then worms shall try 
  That long-preserved virginity, 
  And your quaint honour turn to dust, 
  And into ashes all my lust; 
  The grave’s a fine and private place, 
  But none, I think, do there embrace. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-37

  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, 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 38-40

  And now, like amorous birds of prey, 
  Rather at once our time devour 
  Than languish in his slow-chapped power. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 41-46

  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.

  

  

  

  

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“To His Coy Mistress” Symbols

• 

  Heart

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• 

  Deserts of vast eternity

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• 

  Dust and Ashes

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• 

  Morning dew

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“To His Coy Mistress” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Hyperbole

  

  

  

  

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• Syllogism

  

  

  

  

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“To His Coy Mistress” Vocabulary

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.

• Coyness
• Ganges
• Humber
• Flood
• Conversion of the Jews
• Vegetable
• Time's Wingèd Chariot
• Quaint
• Transpire
• Sport
• Amorous
• Birds of prey
• Languish
• Slow-chapped
• Strife

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To His Coy Mistress”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“To His Coy Mistress” Speaker

“To His Coy Mistress” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “To His Coy Mistress”

More “To His Coy Mistress” Resources

• External Resources

  • "To His Coy Mistress" read by Tom Hiddleston — The full text of "To His Coy Mistress" read by Tom Hiddleston.

  • Arts & Ideas: "To His Coy Mistress" — An episode of BBC Radio 3's podcast Arts & Ideas dedicated to "To His Coy Mistress."

  • An Early Manuscript Copy of "To His Coy Mistress" — Images of an early manuscript copy of "To His Coy Mistress" from the British Library.

  • 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.

  • Allen Ginsberg on "To His Coy Mistress" — Twentieth century beat poet Allen Ginsberg lectures on "To His Coy Mistress."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Andrew Marvell

  • The Definition of Love

  • The Garden

  • The Mower to the Glow-Worms

  • Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)