Academic Reading
11 October 2004
596 words
To His Coy Mistress
Mutability has often been the subject of poems in the past. Andrew Marvell also uses this subject in his poem “To His Coy Mistress”. Marvell’s poem speaks of two lovers wanting to waste their time on coyness and courting. However there is haste to their love for there is mutability. Carpe Diem explains the speaker’s haste best. Marvell uses certain forms of imagery to underline this motif and his theme. This imagery can be divided into the following three categories: the concept of time, the concept of space and other tenors used. The theme of this poem suits the idea of Carpe Diem: love while you can, for even love is subject to mutability.
The concept of time is present throughout the entire poem. In the first part of the poem the speaker longs for immortality and the slow passing of time. He talks of the Flood and the conversion of the Jews. These two events stand ages apart from eachother: the Flood appears not far after the creation of man, yet the conversion of the Jews is supposed to happen right before the Apocalypse. Furthermore “My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow;” metaphorically implies a long and slow passing of time. The dictionary defines vegetable as “growing or multiplying like plants”. Plants are slow growing and so is the speaker’s love. Also, empires take ages to grow and yet his love would grow even slower had the time. The speaker however cannot afford this slow growing love: at his back he hears “Time’s wingéd chariot hurrying near”. This personification of time is the first reference to mutability. Time in the second part of the poem seems to stand still more than to slowly pass. “Deserts of vast eternity.” and “The grave’s a fine and private place, / But none, I think, do there embrace” are good examples of how death makes time and lovers stand still. Finally, in the last part of the poem the speaker seems to spring to life. Imagery used to underline this vitality and haste can be found in words as youthful hue and morning dew (l. 33-34). Lastly, the last two lines of the poem stress the urge to make haste in this life: “Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run”. The sun is here personified. Our sun is a metaphor for the love of the two people. Because it cannot be made to stand still or last forever, the lovers shall make it run and enjoy it while they can.
