Poems: To His Coy Mistress

Description

Marvell's masterpiece transforms the traditional carpe diem theme into a dazzling display of intellectual wit and sensual urgency. The poem unfolds in three dramatic acts: first imagining an eternity for unhurried courtship, then confronting the stark reality of mortality and decay, before concluding with an impassioned call to transform love's potential into present passion. Through startling imagery—from the Indian Ganges to the great flood, from converts to the sun growing older—Marvell builds an argument that's simultaneously playful and profound. His metaphysical wit combines mathematical precision with sensual desire, creating one of literature's most compelling arguments for living and loving in the present moment, aware that "Time's winged chariot" hurries near.