Master 15 Insights To His Coy Mistress Line By Line to unlock the poem’s deeper meanings and explore its themes of love, time, and urgency.
Line by line analysis of the poem “To His Coy Mistress”
Coy –shy or pretending to be shy and innocent, especially about love and sometimes in order to make people more interested or attracted.
Had –if
But –only; it here symbolizes a sense of limitation and urgency. It introduces the poem’s central theme of the fleeting nature of time.
World –space; for increasing population the space is regularly decreasing
Had we … no crime -the speaker talking to his shy ladylove (coy mistress). He opines that if they had plenty of time and space in this world to live, then her shyness would not be considered a crime.
We would sit down … long love’s day –The speaker adds that if they had enough time in their hand, then they would sit together somewhere and would plan the ways in which they can spend their time. They would plan how they would walk or how they would pass the “long love’s day”.
So, in these opening lines of the poem, the speaker seems to be trying to convince his ‘coy mistress’ about the mortality of human life.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ … complain -the speaker continues the same argument here. He would imagine the condition if they had a limitless life. If they had enough time, his beloved would sit beside the river Ganga in India and collect some valuable stones like rubies. On the other hand, the speaker would sit on bank of river Humber complaining to the river about her beloved not coming to him. Thus, they would pass the days.
I would … of the Jews -He says he would love his mistress for “ten years before the flood”. This alludes to the Great Flood in Christian history. Also, his mistress could refuse his proposal until the “Conversion of the Jews”, which refers to the day of Christian judgement prophesied for the end of times in the new testament’s Book of Revelation.
Flood – The Great Flood, or Noah’s Ark story, is a tale from the Bible. It says that a huge flood covered the entire Earth, destroying everything except Noah, his family, and a pair of each animal who were saved on a big boat called the Ark.
Conversion of the Jews -it talks about a time in the future, close to the end of the world, when some Christians believe that Jewish people will accept Christianity and recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
My vegetable love … more slow -He compares his love with vegetable because his love grows slowly and organically, without any external force. The speaker then suggests that if time permitted, his love would grow more than the width of an empire and its growth will be very gradual.
Vegetable love –platonic love
A hundred years … forehead gaze -Then the speaker goes on to describe how he would have praised each and every part of his beloved’s body if he had enough time to live. He says he would have consumed a hundred years in praising her eyes and gazing at her forehead.
Two hundred … to the rest -In a continuation from the previous lines, the lover would take two hundred years to adore each of his ladylove’s breasts. Also, he would take thirty thousand years for praising rest of her body.
An age -implying a long span of time.
An age at least to every part -The speaker claims that he would have consumed a long time to praise each part of her beloved’s body.
And the last age should show your heart -He will concentrate on her heart at the very end.
For, lady, you deserve this state -The speaker claims that his beloved deserves to be praised like this.
Nor would I love at lower rate -after all, the lady is beautiful and charming enough to deserve such a detailed adoration through long years which must not be anything lesser.
At lower rate –in a lesser degree.
But at my back I always hear –the poet constantly threatened; there is constant warning behind him.
Time’s winged Chariot –the winged chariot of time, the expression ‘winged’ is used to indicate the fleetness of time. The chariot of time does not roll upon the ground, but flies in air.
Hurrying near –coming closer very quickly.
And yonder … vast eternity -He also says that the other world (after death) is waiting for us at a distance (yonder). It’s like a vast desert of eternity lying before us.
Yonder all before us –in front of us.
Deserts of vast eternity -eternity is compared to deserts. Vast eternity refers to eternal life after the end of earthly life.
Thy beauty …echoing song -Here the speaker describes the situation after death. In our destined tomb, our beauty will slowly but surely turn into dust. So, the beloved’s beauty will fade as soon as she dies. Here “marble vault” refers to coffin. The speaker’s song would not be heard from her coffin. Everything will vanish and turn to dust there.
The poet wants to say that the beauty of her beloved no more be found nor in her coffin.
My echoing song -the echo of the poet’s song in praise of the lady.
Then worms … virginity -After mentioning the beloved’s beauty, the speaker speaks of her virginity that she has preserved for a long time. The worms would destroy this long-preserved virginity there in the coffin. Thus, we see, the speaker tries to make his lady realize that things like beauty and virginity are of no use after death.
And your quaint honour turn to dust -Not only her virginity, but also her honour will turn to dust.
Quaint –ingenious/ original
And into ashes all my lust -All that honour for which she has saved her virginity will be attacked by worms. At the same time, his lust for her beauty too will turn into ashes.
The grave’s … there embrace -Though the lover finds the grave a “fine and private place” as nobody can’t see them there, it’s not the place where lovers should “embrace”.
Now therefore … morning dew -The last section starts with “now therefore”. It means the speaker will now talk about the things they need to do right now before the time flies. He says that youth is the best part of the life to enjoy. At this time, one becomes energetic and passionate. The skin is as fresh as the morning dew.
And while … while we may -Moreover, in her youth, the beloved’s soul is very much willing to come out (transpire) from every pore of the skin with immediate desires. The speaker here is actually talking about his lady’s erotic desires which he believes he can see in her body. So, he suggests that they should indulge in physical lovemaking (‘sport’ hints at a sexual play) without wasting time. This is like making hay while the sun shines.
And now … slow-chapped power -The speaker now suggests that the two lovers should be like passionate (amorous) preying birds (like eagle, hawk etc.) and eat (devour) time before time eats them. He means to say that unless the lovers enjoy their time at their youthful heights, time won’t wait for them and they will slowly suffer (languish) in the destructing power of time.
Languish –pine eagerly
Slow-chapped power –pressed slowly by jaws or chaps. Marvell conveys the conventional idea to make the best use of the short time by love-making. His contention is that the lovers are to make the full use of all the time, available to them, very swiftly and eagerly. If they hesitate or ponder in coyness, time will slowly possess them and grind them in its jaws with all their love and languishment.
Let us … into one ball -The speaker now suggests that they should unite all their strength and passion along with their sweetness to get the pleasure of love.
Roll -unite
Ball -pleasure of love at the time of ball dance
And tear … iron gates of life -Life is just an iron gate that doesn’t open easily. It is filled with struggle and resentment (rough strife). With all their strength and passion, the lovers will tear the iron gate to get that happiness.
And tear our pleasures with rough strife -tear our rough strife with pleasures.
Thus, though … make him run -In the last couplet, the poet wants to say that they can’t make their good times of youth wait for them. However, they can make the most of their time with love’s unitedness. It would be a fitting challenge to the running of time then.
What is ‘vegetable love’?
When the speaker in Marvell’s poem talks about “vegetable love,” he means a kind of love that grows slowly, like a plant, and can get bigger and stronger over many years. He says that if he had thousands of years, his love would keep growing, becoming bigger than empires, even though it might grow slowly like a tree. This idea is part of the speaker’s way of trying to explain why he wants to make the most of their time together. He is saying that while their love could grow slowly, time is moving fast, so they should enjoy their love now.
“Head but world enough and time” –What would the lover do then?
The speaker even says he would love her from before the time of the great Biblical flood, and she could keep saying no to him until the end of the world. He imagines that if they could live forever, he would happily spend thousands of years just trying to win her love. But then, he reminds her that time is actually short and moves quickly. Because of this, he suggests that instead of waiting, they should enjoy their love now, while they still have time.
What are meant by the ‘flood’ and ‘the conversion of the Jews’?
The speaker also talks about how, even though it is unlikely, if the Jews ever converted to Christianity, it would be a sign that the world is about to end. He uses this to show how long he would be willing to wait if time wasn’t a problem. The playful lover says that if they could live forever, they could spend all that time playing games of love, even taking longer than the time from the creation of the world to its end. But he says all of this to remind her that they don’t actually have all this time, and they should enjoy their love now, while they can.
How does the speaker propose to praise the beauty of the beloved if he had enough time and space?
Explain the phrase –“Slow-chapt pow’r”?
Through the detailed breakdown in Master 15 Insights To His Coy Mistress Line By Line, the poem’s metaphysical elements become more accessible.
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The blog post, titled “Master 15 Insights To His Coy Mistress Line By Line,” provides a comprehensive understanding of Andrew Marvell’s poetic brilliance.
Readers can delve into an enlightening analysis with the guide titled Master 15 Insights To His Coy Mistress Line By Line, exploring each line with clarity.
