In the poem “To His Coy Mistress,” Andrew Marvell addresses the lack of time. He confesses that he’d love nothing more than to “praise” the eyes and the forehead of his “fair mistress” for a hundred years. Yet there’s no time for that. Their passion and ardor can’t continue indefinitely. Eventually, their burning desire will be little more than “ashes.” Again, this limit on attraction appears to be one of the ways that Marvell addresses time’s brevity. He uses the constriction of time to try and persuade his mistress that they should act on their “lust” before it expires.

Another way that Marvell addresses time’s brevity in the poem is by advocating a bellicose posture towards time itself. It’s almost as if Marvell is preparing to declare war on time. Towards the end of the poem, the language becomes rather violent. He compares himself and his mistress to “birds of prey.” He suggests that they and their pleasure should “tear” through the “iron gates of life.” In this sense, Marvell addresses time’s brevity by encouraging people to not passively accept time’s dominance and to take advantage of the time that they do have, especially when it pertains to romantic affairs.

Now that you have two examples, hopefully you can find a third example on your own.