To His Coy Mistress Group

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seb-chan
Student
Community / Jr. College

What evidence indicates that Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress" is a carpe diem poem?

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Posted by seb-chan on Friday October 30, 2009 at 8:36 AM and tagged with andrew marvell, british literature, to his coy mistress.

Answers:

  1. srodgers1029
    srodgers1029 Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Carpe diem means to "seize the day."  The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" is trying to persuade his lover to stop postponing sexual intimacy in their relationship because

    The grave's a fine and private place,
    But none, I think, do there embrace.

    He is using the ruse that since death comes so quickly, he and she should "seize" the opportunity they have now--immediately.  He says if their time together was limitless, he would spend years upon end loving her and praising her beauty.  But since

    . . . at my back I always hear
    Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near


    they really just have no time to waste.  He even goes so far as to invoke this (unfortunately) unforgettable image:

    . . . then worms shall try
    That long preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honour turn to dust


    So, he says, why wait?  He encourages her to not wait for that day to come when it is too late to act upon their love, but instead to "seize the day" they have now.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/his-coy-mistress-salem/his-coy-mist...

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    Posted by srodgers1029 on Friday October 30, 2009 at 8:49 AM