To+His+Coy+Mistress+Links

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 * Andrew Marvell **
 * To His Coy Mistress Commentary **
 * by Erin Eller **

**"the Indian Ganges"**- Trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh-- a faraway, mysterious, foreign place. **"Humber"-** An estuary of the east coast of Northern England. Marvell spent a lot of time there in his childhood.

**"I would/ Love you ten years before the flood"-** The speaker refers to the flood in the famous biblical story Noah's Ark. **"And you should, if you please, refuse/ Till the conversion of the Jews"-** In response to the shift to Christianity after the resurrection of Christ **"An hundred years should go to praise.... and the last age should show your heart."-** He devotes attention in the form of time to each of the mistress' body parts in recognition of her beauty **"For lady, you deserve this state/Nor would I love at lower rate"-** He goes on to say that she is worthy of all of this praise, and would labor just as thoroughly over his love for her.

**"....Time's winged chariot hurrying near"-** This is where the poem takes a turn. Before this point, Marvell's speaker has described an infinite life of luxury and adoration. Now, he voices his concern that they do not have "world enough, and time." This is where the speaker first alludes to Death, the inevitable destination of "deserts of vast eternity."

**"My vegetable love should grow"-** Metaphysical poets are known for their extensive use of metaphor, usually comparing two things in an unusual or unexpected way. Here, Marvell poses love as a plant to be tended to in order to maintain its survival.

**"Nor, in thy marble vault shall sound/ My echoing song;"**- When you are dead and in the morgue, you'll no longer hear my poems

**"Then worms shall try/That long-preserved virginity,/And your quaint honour turn to dust"**- Your purity and abstinence will have been wasted. The metaphor is that the worms will literally eat away at her virginity if she takes it with her to the grave.

**"But none, I think, do there embrace"**- When we are dead and in the ground, it will be too late to be together physically.

**"Now therefore, while the youthful hue/ Sits on thy skin like morning dew"-** Another metaphor. Here, youth takes the form of dew, which turns to dust upon the mistress' death ("And your quaint honour turned to dust")

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"And while thy willing soul transpires/ At every pore with instant fires"**- 'Instant fires' are a metaphor for lust. Earlier, the speaker says that his lust will turn to ashes upon his death.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"let us sport us"-** The speaker asks that his mistress makes love with him before this inevitable impending death which he has described.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"like amorous birds of prey"**- Another unusual metaphor characteristic of metaphysical poetry. The lovers, as 'amorous birds,' will 'prey' on time, feeding on all it has to offer before they die and it's too late.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"Rather at once our time devour/Than languish in his slow-chapped power."-** It's better to take full advantage of our time than to let it slowly kill us.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"And tear our pleasures with rough strife/Thorough the iron gates of life."-** Let's live with pleasure all the way through until we die.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**"Thus, though we cannot make our sun/Stand still, yet we will make him run."**- We cannot stop the Sun from rising and setting... we cannot stop time or death from happening. But as 'amorous birds of prey,' we will feast on life while we have the chance; we will live life for what it's worth.