I must say I was immediately enraptured by this poem and taken in by the sincerity of its voice. Andrew Marvell really knew how to reach the ladies. Whoever his "coy mistress" was had to have felt the depth of his emotions for her. The initial idea that I gleaned was that the kind of love affair that she deserved was too great for one lifetime. He wanted to give her a love through all the ages including past, present, and future. I don't think it gets much more romantic than that. The way he incorporated important world events was beautiful.
The second time I read it I felt more of a sense of urgency in his voice. It was less that he wanted to be with her forever, and more that he was urging her to make a decision. He is almost being a little pushy about it when you look into the wording. He says in the first two lines that "had we but world enough, and time,/This coyness, lady, were no crime", meaning that her shyness or playing hard to get would be pardoned if they had the time for it, but they don't. So in a round-about way he is really telling her that the way she is acting is criminal-perhaps a little harsh Marvell? The somewhat passive-aggressive tone in which he begins the poem, however, can easily be forgiven because of the next forty-four lines.
I cannot help but question his choice of wording though when we approach the stanza about time being short. Perhaps I over analyzed it but it seems as though the focus of lines 21-32 is sex with lines like "... then worms shall try/That long preserv'd virginity" and then later on with "The grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace". I have no problem with this reference, I only question his choice of referring to her honor and then his lust: "And your quaint honour turn to dust/And into ashes all my lust". To me this could almost suggest that he is eager to sleep with her because of his lust and he wishes that she would not take forever to make a decision about it. This is a long shot, but worth thinking about.
The ending is absolutely breathtaking. Who wouldn't want to look at life that way? Life is better lived when two people combine what they have ("Let us roll all our strength, and all/Our sweetness, up into one ball;) and take on struggles together ("And tear our pleasures with rough strife/Thorough the iron gates of life"). The last two lines are memorable and inspiring. We can't stop the sun, but we can make it run- I feel a hit song coming on...
I agree with you that the coy mistress was probably swept off of her feet by the deep emotions in the first stanza of the poem. I like where Marvell assigns time periods to loving certain aspects of her: “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” (“To his Coy Mistress”). I don’t think I could look at anybody’s forehead for a hundred years. I think your analysis of the part "... then worms shall try/That long preserv'd virginity" and then later on with "The grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace" is insightful (“To his Coy Mistress”). I didn’t think about those lines referring to the speaker wanting to sleep with the coy mistress, but it makes sense now that you mention it. I also agree with what you end your blog with, about life being better lived when two people combine what each other has to endure struggles together. It seems now, perhaps more than ever, that living is hard to do, with all of the unemployment and such, and life would probably be much harder to go through if you didn’t share a special connection with a significant other. I don’t think Marvell is necessarily talking about having a deep, lasting connection, but I think it would certainly help to go through life with at least some romantic relationship with someone else.
ReplyDeleteHey Constance,
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to see that I was not the only person who thought that Marvell sounded somewhat concerned and pushy in the poem. Once you dig past the romantic figurative language, this poem may have had not only the purpose of swooning this "coy mistress", but to also basically tell her "stop playing hard to get!"