Mini-Essay: To His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvel's "To His Coy Mistress" reveals a man's constant struggle to be with his desired lady. Marvel divides his poem into three stanzas; all exerting different tones and feelings towards life and the beautiful woman. The first stanza he describes how much he would love her, no matter how much time they have together. The following stanza's mood and tone shift to a more frightful and intimidating one. Marvel tries to pressure the woman into being with him; "Nor in thy marble vault shall sound." This serves as a metaphor that if the woman does not decide to be with Marvel, she will die lonely and as a virgin. He progressively becomes much more emotional throughout the poem, in that, he becomes much more passionate and 'rallied up' about his relationship with the woman. Marvel's shift in his third stanza takes a completely different approach than was previously made throughout the poem. He begins the stanza with, unlike the normal conditional statement used in the previous stanzas, "Now." This reveals his whole tone that is permeated throughout this particular stanza. His mindset of being completely in the present and 'seizing the day' all influence him to urge the woman to listen and, finally, be with him. He claims that life is much to precious and unpredictable to waste and that it is too short to not fulfill our desires. "Now, therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew..." Marvel further reveals his newfound ideology of living life to the fullest while we have it. He also claims that beauty is like dew; it's completely temporary and perishes after some time, so they should seize the day while they have it (and before it is too late.)
Marvel goes through a whole cycle; he starts off slowly and hesitant as he describes his desires for love and the extension of time given to live and love, then becomes intimidating, in describing his sexual and emotional frustration, and then becomes obsessed with the idea of "carpe diem." Through his poem, Marvel reveals to himself and the reader that life and everything in it is completely temporary. Everything has an expiration date, so humans must take advantage of everything that they are presented with.