ANDREW MARVELL'S TO HIS COY MISTRESS
It is upon his poems that Marvell's literary reputation mainly rests. Yet very strangely, his poems were scarcely known to his contemporaries. Some of them were circulated in manuscripts form to friends, one among them was Milton. His poems were made available to the reading public in printed form some three years after his death. Marvell's poetical output was very meagre. He wrote some 40 poems in English and a few in Latin. For quite a long time his reputation as a poet was neglected but in the 20th century his fame soared to great heights. In 1912 Sir Herbert Grierson's famous edition of the poetry of Donne, followed, in 1921, by his anthology, Metaphysical Poetry: Donne to Butler, which placed Marvell squarely among the metaphysical poets. Marvell's modern fame received a great stimulus from T S Eliot's appreciative essay on him.
The Poem
Summary: In this poem the lover addresses his beloved who refuses to grant him sexual favours on account of her modesty and sense of honour. The lover says that her coyness and reluctance would have been justified if they had enough space and time at their disposal. If they had enough space at their disposal, she could have occupied herself by searching for rubies on the banks of the Ganges, while he would complaint about his unfulfilled love on the banks of the river Humber. If they had enough time at their disposal, he would have started loving her ten years before the great flood (mentioned in the Bible) while she could refuse to satisfy his desire till the Day of Judgement when the jews might agree to convert to Christianity. If they really had enough time, he would spend a hundred year in praising her eyes and gazing on her forehead; he would spend two hundred years in admiring each of her breasts; and he would spend thirty thousand years in praising the remaining parts of her body. She really deserves so much praise and adoration.
But all this is not possible, the lover goes on to say. Time is passing at a very fast pace, and eventually they have to face the 'deserts of vast eternity'. After some years, her beauty will no longer be found on this earth. She will lie in her marble tomb, and he would no longer be there to sing his love song. There, in the grave, worms will attack her long preserved virginity. All her sense of honour will then turn to dust and all his desire to make love to her will then turn to ashes. The grave is a fine and private place but nobody can enjoy the pleasure of love making there.
Therefore, it would be appropriate for both of them to enjoy the pleasures of love when there is still time, when her skin is still youthful and fresh and when her responsive soul is still burning with a desire for love making. They should, like amorous birds of prey, devour the pleasures of love, which now time still permits them to enjoy, rather than that they should suffer the pangs of unsatisfied love. They should roll all their strength and all their sweetness into one canon ball and shot it through the iron gates of life. If they cannot arrest the passage of time, they can at least quicken its pace.
Explanation:
Lines 1-20: Lady, if we had enough time and enough space at our disposal, I would not find fault with your coyness. In that case, we would sit down, and think which way to walk; and we would thus spend our long period of time which we would get to love each other. In that case you would be free to wander on the banks of the river Ganges in search of rubies while I would complain about my unfulfilled love on the banks of the river Humber. I would also, in that case, start loving you ten years before the great flood which is mentioned in the Bible, while you would be free to refuse to love me till the day the jews agree to be converted to Christianity. In that case, having endless time at our disposal, I would spend one hundred years to praise your eyes and to gaze on your forehead. I would then spend two hundred years to worship each of your breasts. But I would need thirty thousand years to praise the remaining parts of your body and the last stage would be devoted to a description of your heart. All this pomp and ceremony you deserve, lady, and I would not estimate your value at a lower rate.
Lines 21-32: But the trouble is that I always hear behind me the flying chariot of Time traveling at great speed to overtake us; and there before us lie the barren and endless stretches of Eternity. A time would come when your beauty would no longer be visible on this earth; nor would you, while lying in your marble tomb, hear the sound of my echoing love song. The worms will violate your long preserved virginity and your proud chastity will turn to dust, while all my sensual desire for you will change into ashes. The grave is a fine and private place, but it is not possible to make love to each other there.
Lines 33-46: Now is the time, therefore, for us to make love to each other when it is possible for us to do so, when the youthful complexion of your skin shines brightly like the dew-drops of the morning, and when your responsive soul burns through every pore of your body with the fire of passion. And now, like birds of prey overcome by their passion, we should rather utilise our time to satisfy our desires greedily han suffer slowly in the grip of time which will grind us slowly in its cruel jaws. Let us therefore collect all our strength and all out mutual attraction for each other and give then the shape of a cannon ball which is shot into a city with great speed. Let us use all our vigour and energy to enjoy the pleasure of sex, dis regarding all obstacles put in our way by life (or fate). In this way, even though we are not able to bring Time to a standstill, we shall be able to quicken its pace.
Critical Remarks:
The Carpe Diem Theme: To His Coy Mistress is probably the best known poem of Andrew Marvell. It is a love poem in which the speaker offers a strong plea to the beloved to soften towards him and to relax her rigid attitude of puritanical reluctance to grant him sexual favours. The lover builds up a really strong case and supports it with arguments which no sensible woman can reject. Thus the poem has a Carpe Diem theme. Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase meaning 'seize the opportunity'. The complete Latin sentence from which this phrase has been taken out is "Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero" which means 'Enjoy the present day, trusting the least possible to the future."
The Syllogistic Construction: The poem is written in the form of what is known as syllogism. A syllogism means an argument developed in a strictly logical form leading to a definite conclusion. In a syllogism there are three stages which may be indicated by three words initiating each stage in the argument. These three words are: 'if' , 'but', 'therefore'. This poem is divisible into three clearly marked sections. The first section begins with an 'if': "Had we but world enough, and time." In this line the word 'had' is used in a conditional sense meaning 'if'. The second section begins with 'but' : "But at my back I always hear" (line 21). And the third section begins with 'therefore' : "Now, therefore, while the youthful hue" (line 33). Thus the poem begins with a conditional statement; the reasons are given to explain why that condition cannot be fulfilled, and finally a conclusion is drawn. The conclusion of the poem is that the lovers should lose no time in enjoying the pleasures of love. The conclusion justifies us in saying that the theme of the poem is that of Carpe Diem which means that one should enjoy the moment.
Imagery and Metaphysical Conceits: There are a number of concrete pictures in the poem and a whole series of metaphysical conceits. The very notion of the lover that, having enough space and time at their disposal, they would be able to wander as far apart as the Indian Ganges and the English Humber is fantastic. Then the lover's saying that he would love his mistress from a time ten years before the Flood and would spend hundreds and thousands of years in admiring and adoring various parts of her body constitutes another metaphysical conceit. The picture of Time's winged chariot hurrying near to overtake the lovers vividly brings before our mind the rapid passing of time. Here an abstract idea has been made concrete by means of a metaphor, and this is a realistic picture in contrast to the earlier metaphysical conciets though there is a conceit in the image of Time as having a winged chariot. The picture of the woman lying in her grave and the worms attacking her long preserved virginity and her honour turning to dust are conceits as the worms are regarded as being capable of seducing a woman, and a dead woman at that. We have conceits in the concluding stanza also, where the mistress' willing soul is depicted as giving out instant fires at every pore and the lovers are imagined as rolling their strength and their sweetness into one ball and tearing their pleasures with rough strife through the iron gate of life.
Wit and Irony: The witty manner in which the poet argues his case is noteworthy. Infact, the whole poem is characterised by metaphysical wit, and a streak of irony runs through it. The lover is mocking at his mistress' coyness. If the lovers had enough time, the beloved would be in a position to refuse till a long time. This remark is certainly witty and ironical. Then the lover speak of his 'vegetable love' growing vaster than empires. The manner in which the lover would have spent hundreds and thousands of years to admire her beauties is also described wittily. This is an example of witty hyperbole.
Concentration and Compression: The style of the poem is marked by compression and economy in the use of words. There is a concentration of meaning in the lines and the poet shows a remarkable skill in compressing his ideas in the fewest possible words. The idea of time passing rapidly has admirably been compressed in four lines and the idea of all the beauty and charm of the woman coming to nothing has also been stated in only a few words. Some of the lines have an epigrammatic quality:
"Thy beauty shall no more be found
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing horn"
"The grave's a fine and private place
But none I think do there embrace."
'
The Poet: The son of a priest, Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) was born in the rectory of Winestead near Hull in Yorkshire, England. He grew as the only son of the family. The family moved to Hull where three and half years old Andrew was admitted to the Grammar School which had strong connections with Cambridge. At twelve he proceeded to Cambridge got a B A degree and when he was working for his M A his mother and father died one after another. Receiving the news he hurried back to Hull and never returned to Cambridge to complete his studies.
It is upon his poems that Marvell's literary reputation mainly rests. Yet very strangely, his poems were scarcely known to his contemporaries. Some of them were circulated in manuscripts form to friends, one among them was Milton. His poems were made available to the reading public in printed form some three years after his death. Marvell's poetical output was very meagre. He wrote some 40 poems in English and a few in Latin. For quite a long time his reputation as a poet was neglected but in the 20th century his fame soared to great heights. In 1912 Sir Herbert Grierson's famous edition of the poetry of Donne, followed, in 1921, by his anthology, Metaphysical Poetry: Donne to Butler, which placed Marvell squarely among the metaphysical poets. Marvell's modern fame received a great stimulus from T S Eliot's appreciative essay on him.
The Poem
Summary: In this poem the lover addresses his beloved who refuses to grant him sexual favours on account of her modesty and sense of honour. The lover says that her coyness and reluctance would have been justified if they had enough space and time at their disposal. If they had enough space at their disposal, she could have occupied herself by searching for rubies on the banks of the Ganges, while he would complaint about his unfulfilled love on the banks of the river Humber. If they had enough time at their disposal, he would have started loving her ten years before the great flood (mentioned in the Bible) while she could refuse to satisfy his desire till the Day of Judgement when the jews might agree to convert to Christianity. If they really had enough time, he would spend a hundred year in praising her eyes and gazing on her forehead; he would spend two hundred years in admiring each of her breasts; and he would spend thirty thousand years in praising the remaining parts of her body. She really deserves so much praise and adoration.
But all this is not possible, the lover goes on to say. Time is passing at a very fast pace, and eventually they have to face the 'deserts of vast eternity'. After some years, her beauty will no longer be found on this earth. She will lie in her marble tomb, and he would no longer be there to sing his love song. There, in the grave, worms will attack her long preserved virginity. All her sense of honour will then turn to dust and all his desire to make love to her will then turn to ashes. The grave is a fine and private place but nobody can enjoy the pleasure of love making there.
Therefore, it would be appropriate for both of them to enjoy the pleasures of love when there is still time, when her skin is still youthful and fresh and when her responsive soul is still burning with a desire for love making. They should, like amorous birds of prey, devour the pleasures of love, which now time still permits them to enjoy, rather than that they should suffer the pangs of unsatisfied love. They should roll all their strength and all their sweetness into one canon ball and shot it through the iron gates of life. If they cannot arrest the passage of time, they can at least quicken its pace.
Explanation:
Lines 1-20: Lady, if we had enough time and enough space at our disposal, I would not find fault with your coyness. In that case, we would sit down, and think which way to walk; and we would thus spend our long period of time which we would get to love each other. In that case you would be free to wander on the banks of the river Ganges in search of rubies while I would complain about my unfulfilled love on the banks of the river Humber. I would also, in that case, start loving you ten years before the great flood which is mentioned in the Bible, while you would be free to refuse to love me till the day the jews agree to be converted to Christianity. In that case, having endless time at our disposal, I would spend one hundred years to praise your eyes and to gaze on your forehead. I would then spend two hundred years to worship each of your breasts. But I would need thirty thousand years to praise the remaining parts of your body and the last stage would be devoted to a description of your heart. All this pomp and ceremony you deserve, lady, and I would not estimate your value at a lower rate.
Lines 21-32: But the trouble is that I always hear behind me the flying chariot of Time traveling at great speed to overtake us; and there before us lie the barren and endless stretches of Eternity. A time would come when your beauty would no longer be visible on this earth; nor would you, while lying in your marble tomb, hear the sound of my echoing love song. The worms will violate your long preserved virginity and your proud chastity will turn to dust, while all my sensual desire for you will change into ashes. The grave is a fine and private place, but it is not possible to make love to each other there.
Lines 33-46: Now is the time, therefore, for us to make love to each other when it is possible for us to do so, when the youthful complexion of your skin shines brightly like the dew-drops of the morning, and when your responsive soul burns through every pore of your body with the fire of passion. And now, like birds of prey overcome by their passion, we should rather utilise our time to satisfy our desires greedily han suffer slowly in the grip of time which will grind us slowly in its cruel jaws. Let us therefore collect all our strength and all out mutual attraction for each other and give then the shape of a cannon ball which is shot into a city with great speed. Let us use all our vigour and energy to enjoy the pleasure of sex, dis regarding all obstacles put in our way by life (or fate). In this way, even though we are not able to bring Time to a standstill, we shall be able to quicken its pace.
Critical Remarks:
The Carpe Diem Theme: To His Coy Mistress is probably the best known poem of Andrew Marvell. It is a love poem in which the speaker offers a strong plea to the beloved to soften towards him and to relax her rigid attitude of puritanical reluctance to grant him sexual favours. The lover builds up a really strong case and supports it with arguments which no sensible woman can reject. Thus the poem has a Carpe Diem theme. Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase meaning 'seize the opportunity'. The complete Latin sentence from which this phrase has been taken out is "Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero" which means 'Enjoy the present day, trusting the least possible to the future."
The Syllogistic Construction: The poem is written in the form of what is known as syllogism. A syllogism means an argument developed in a strictly logical form leading to a definite conclusion. In a syllogism there are three stages which may be indicated by three words initiating each stage in the argument. These three words are: 'if' , 'but', 'therefore'. This poem is divisible into three clearly marked sections. The first section begins with an 'if': "Had we but world enough, and time." In this line the word 'had' is used in a conditional sense meaning 'if'. The second section begins with 'but' : "But at my back I always hear" (line 21). And the third section begins with 'therefore' : "Now, therefore, while the youthful hue" (line 33). Thus the poem begins with a conditional statement; the reasons are given to explain why that condition cannot be fulfilled, and finally a conclusion is drawn. The conclusion of the poem is that the lovers should lose no time in enjoying the pleasures of love. The conclusion justifies us in saying that the theme of the poem is that of Carpe Diem which means that one should enjoy the moment.
Imagery and Metaphysical Conceits: There are a number of concrete pictures in the poem and a whole series of metaphysical conceits. The very notion of the lover that, having enough space and time at their disposal, they would be able to wander as far apart as the Indian Ganges and the English Humber is fantastic. Then the lover's saying that he would love his mistress from a time ten years before the Flood and would spend hundreds and thousands of years in admiring and adoring various parts of her body constitutes another metaphysical conceit. The picture of Time's winged chariot hurrying near to overtake the lovers vividly brings before our mind the rapid passing of time. Here an abstract idea has been made concrete by means of a metaphor, and this is a realistic picture in contrast to the earlier metaphysical conciets though there is a conceit in the image of Time as having a winged chariot. The picture of the woman lying in her grave and the worms attacking her long preserved virginity and her honour turning to dust are conceits as the worms are regarded as being capable of seducing a woman, and a dead woman at that. We have conceits in the concluding stanza also, where the mistress' willing soul is depicted as giving out instant fires at every pore and the lovers are imagined as rolling their strength and their sweetness into one ball and tearing their pleasures with rough strife through the iron gate of life.
Wit and Irony: The witty manner in which the poet argues his case is noteworthy. Infact, the whole poem is characterised by metaphysical wit, and a streak of irony runs through it. The lover is mocking at his mistress' coyness. If the lovers had enough time, the beloved would be in a position to refuse till a long time. This remark is certainly witty and ironical. Then the lover speak of his 'vegetable love' growing vaster than empires. The manner in which the lover would have spent hundreds and thousands of years to admire her beauties is also described wittily. This is an example of witty hyperbole.
Concentration and Compression: The style of the poem is marked by compression and economy in the use of words. There is a concentration of meaning in the lines and the poet shows a remarkable skill in compressing his ideas in the fewest possible words. The idea of time passing rapidly has admirably been compressed in four lines and the idea of all the beauty and charm of the woman coming to nothing has also been stated in only a few words. Some of the lines have an epigrammatic quality:
"Thy beauty shall no more be found
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing horn"
"The grave's a fine and private place
But none I think do there embrace."
'
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