Analysis of Marvels Coy Mistress (Essay Sample)

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English
03.05.2014
Analysis of Marvels Coy Mistress
Andrew Marvell's Coy Mistress is an attempt by the persona/poet to persuade his mistress into sexual intercourse. The argument unfolds in three parts. Through careful choice of words, the person sets out to convince a mistress that they should engage in sex. The mistress is coy, something that the persona detest as a crime. In the first part of the argument, the man conjures a fantasy world for the mistress in which flattery and eternal courtship reign supreme. In the second part, the argument bemoans the unpleasantness of the world to make the mistress hate it. In the third part, the man merges the two arguments and suggests that the only way to escape the repulsive world and live in fantasy is to have sex in order to negate life's problems.
The poem starts with the man hitting the woman's soft spots. He appeals to sentimentality and romantics the woman's dwelling place. He opines that separation would lead hurt him and conjures that place of the woman as,
Though by the Indian Ganges side
Shouldn't Rubies find: I by the Tide of Humber
The man flatters the woman by describing her place in terms of rubies. In contrast, he describes his own place as full of complains. This draws the readers' attention to the man's appeal for men sentimentality while in pursuit of sexual gratification. Marvell effectively employs shifting from space to time as a poetic mechanic to achieve certain effects. This is very clear in line 7-8 which proceeds,
I would Love you ten years before the flood:
And you should if you please refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews
Notice the interchange in time and space in the three lines. It shows the patience with which the man is willing to wait for the lady's love.
The second part of the argument portrays more urgency. Again, Marvell employs the mechanics of time and space to convince the lady that they should engage in sex as mortality is a reality. Notice the following lines in the second stanza,
But at my back I always hear
Times winged Chariots hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lye
Deserts of vast Eternity
The speaker persuades the mistress that time is running out and they would soon die and separate. The mistress' coyness was therefore unreasonable, as she would not have the opportunity to enjoy sex as a corpse. The speaker's argument is that rather than have sex with worms when dead, as they would penetrate her sexual organs, it was prudent to play sex with one who pr...