Yet Donne knows her well, and does not shrink from her challenge of him. He turns her own arguments on her head. "'Tis true; then learn how false fears be. Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me, will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee". The poet argues that the flea certainly isn’t a big deal, and therefore nor is losing her virginity.
In this poem, Donne seems to see love as a game. Throughout the monologue, he mocks the idea of love and relationships. For instance, in the last stanza, he says “how false, fears be”. Before his love killed the flea, he feared that they would die if she killed it, but they still live, even though the flea is dead. He states that since there was no substance to his initial fear, then she should see that worrying about them having sex is ridiculous. He is being cynical.
Andrew Marvell's target, on the other hand, seems to respond to a much gentler approach, at least initially. She wants to wait. He indulges her desire, and begins his poem with an expansion of their courtship to include all of time and space, which would allow her to delay giving in to him indefinitely, calling it their "long love's day".
In "To His Coy Mistress," Andrew Marvell unveils the hidden, sexual desires of an older gentleman waiting to seize the day with the woman he loves. Marvell's dramatic monologue relates the readers to the complications of consummating a relationship by bridging the gap between lust and love. The character is faced with the struggle of subduing this delicate matter in a lady's presence and of fighting his own urges to let his personal needs surface. In one instance, he takes the time to explain that the love he has for the woman is patient and kind. In the next, he is consumed by thoughts of passion as he realises the end may be drawing near.
Andrew Marvell uses the first twenty lines of his monologue to describe the gentleman's feelings of love for his mistress. The man spends this time trying to convince the woman that what he says is true. He lets her know that he would take all the time the world offered to consummate their love. In lines 8-10, the gentleman says, "Love you ten years before the Flood, \ And you should if you please refuse \ Till the conversion of the Jews." This implies that he loved her before the occurrence of Noah's flood, and if she still decides to put off sex, he will wait for her until the conversion of the Jews which is supposed to happen before Armageddon. Essentially, the man describes to the woman that he has loved her since time began and will continue to love her when time ends. In lines eleven and twelve, the man describes just how slowly he will let his love grow by saying, "My vegetable love should grow \ Vaster than empires, and more slow." Vegetables are known to grow very slowly, as will this man's love. Empires are huge and complex, which is a comparison to the great love shared between the couple. Lines nineteen and twenty state, "For, lady, you deserve this state; \ Nor would I love you at lower rate." The man tries one last time to convince her of his unending love by saying that he will love her to his fullest capability.
Marvell changes the tone of the rest of his monologue. Whereas the first part was of a slow nature, the last part is hurried. In lines twenty-one and twenty-two, the gentleman goes on to say, "But at my back I always hear \ Time's winged chariot hurrying near." This says that the man has second thoughts about being so patient with love. He is older than his mistress; therefore, he has less time to spend in passionate affairs. He states: "And into ashes all my lust: \ The grave's a fine and private place, \ But none, I think, do there embrace." This implies that he will be buried in his grave by the time his mistress is ready to finalize their relationship. As the monologue draws near the end, the reader is able to pick up a sense of impatience within the main character's tone. The last two lines say, "Thus, though we cannot make our sun \ Stand still, yet we will make him run." The man says that they cannot stop time themselves, so they should take advantage of the time they already have.
In the case of "To His Coy Mistress," the man tries to convince his timid love to throw caution to the wind because the end may sneak up on them. Andrew Marvell presented his audience with this scenario because it proves that it is best to take every opportunity one is faced with, portraying a theme of Carpe Diem, meaning ‘seize the day’. Marvell used a common situation in which he related to readers the struggles that people face. He succeeded in showing the importance of fulfilling one's needs and desires. As Marvell's character proposed, "...we cannot make our sun stand still."
Marvell's use of imagery and allusion makes this poem come to life because it makes the reader think about things in a very real way. Using death as an argument for carpe diem is very effective because it makes one think of the life they have now and that they should take advantage of it, before it is indeed too late. His views on love and relationships appear to be hedonistic, which is similar to those of Donne’s. They both share the idea of carpe diem in the sense of refusing to be patient, and instead, they both attempt impatiently to get what they want, and when they want it.
Seduction is clearly never an exact science, however, Donne and Marvell have two very different women in their sights, and as such, their approaches to each woman are widely diverse, but probably equally effective.
