To His Coy Mistress

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To His Coy Mistress

• 
  

• By Andrew Marvell
• Instructor Doris
• Members Cindy Grace
• Elaine Clara
• Beryl Joyce

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Contents

• IntroductionClara
• Read the poem..All Members
• Paraphrase.Clara
• Vocabulary.Clara
• Speaker ListenerClara
• ThemeBeryl
• Structure I.Beryl
• Structure IIGrace
• IronyElaine
• Symbolic Meaning AllusionCindy
• AuthorJoyce
• ConclusionJoyce
• ReflectionEveryone

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Introduction

• There was a man falling in love with his
  mistress. He wanted to make love to her, but the
  mistress was shy and turned him down. The speaker
  wrote the poem to the mistress in order to
  persuade her to accept him.

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Paraphrase

• If we had enough time
  and world, lady, your coyness was not something
  unforgivable. We would sit down, thinking which
  way to walk, and passed our long lovely day. You
  should find rubies by the river Indian Ganges
  side, and I would write love poems for you by the
  side of Humber. I would love you ten years before
  the Flood (very early in the history) , and if
  you like, you could refuse me until the
  conversion of the Jews, shortly before the end of
  the world. My unconsciously growing love would
  grow larger and more stable than the empires.

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I would spend one hundred years to praise your
eyes, and gazed on your forehead. I would adore
both of your breasts for four hundred years. But
I would adore the rest of your body for thirty
thousand years. It would take me at least one age
(one hundred years) to every part of your body,
and you should show me your affection at the last
age. Lady, the reason I did this is you deserve
such admiration, and I wouldnt love you with
less deserving manners.
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• However, I always hear the winged chariot
  of time hurrying near at my back, and all the
  deserts of vast eternity lies there before us.
  Neither your beauty shall be found nor you should
  sound my echoing song in your grave, then worms
  shall destroy your long preserved virginity. And
  your attractive and old-fashioned virginity will
  turn into dust and all my lust will turn into
  ashes. The grave is a fine and private place, but
  I think no one would want to embrace there.

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• Therefore, while the youthful color of
  your skin is like the morning dew, your willing
  soul of desirous love transpires at every pore.
  Now let us make love like amorous birds of prey.
  I would rather devour our time at once than
  languish the time gradually. Let us gather all
  our strength and all our sweetness when we are
  making love, and tear our pleasure with fierce
  orgasm through the difficulties of life. Although
  we cannot make our time stand still. We can make
  the sun melt with our passion.

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Vocabulary

• 1. Coy - A coy person is shy, or pretends to be
  shy, about love and sex. (The mistress)
• Ex She gave a coy smile when he paid her a
  compliment.
• 2. Conversion - Someone changes his religion or
  beliefs. (Conversion of Jews)
• Ex Its hard to believe his conversion to
  Christianity.
• 3. Vast - very large in area, size, quantity or
  degree immense (The speakers love for the
  mistress)
• Ex A vast expanse of desert.
• 4. Chariot - fast-moving vehicles with two wheels
  that are pulled by horses (Time)

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• 5. Eternity - Eternity is time without an end or
  a state of existence outside time, especially the
  state which some people believe they will pass
  into after they have died.
• Ex I have always found the thought of eternity
  terrifying.
• 6. Quaint - Something that is quaint is
  attractive because it is unusual and rather
  old-fashioned. (The honor of virginity)
• Ex This may seem a quaint idea in thus age.
• 7. Vault- A vault is a room underneath a church
  where people are buried, usually the members of a
  single family.
• Ex He ordered Matildas body should be buried
  in the family vault.

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• 8. Lust - Lust is a feeling of strong sexual
  desire for someone.
• Ex His relationship with Angie was first which
  combined lust with friendship.
• 9. Hue - color
• Ex The same hue will look different in
  different light.
• 10. Dew - Dew is small drops of water that form
  on the ground and the other surfaces outdoors
  during the light. (The mistresss skin)
• Ex The dew gathered on the leaves.
• 11. Transpire - (of plants) give off (water
  vapor) from the surface of leaves.
• 12. Pore - Pores are the tiny holes in humans
  skin.
• Ex He was sweating at every pore.

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• 13. Amorous (amrous, line38) - readily showing
  or feeling love relating to love, especially
  sexual love) (wild and passionate love)
• Ex He became quite amorous at the office
  party.
• 14. Prey - animals or birds hunted and killed by
  another for food
• Ex The lion stalked its prey through the long
  grass.
• 15. Languish - be or become weak and miserable
  because of unfulfilled longings
• Ex He languishes for love.
• 16. Strife - violence of making love

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Speaker
An adorer of the mistress
Listener
The mistress
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Theme

• Carpe dien seize the day and have fun.
• This is a seducing poem. The speaker shows his
  strong passion for the mistress and tried very
  hard to persuade her to make love to him. Because
  time and time wait for no man, he asks her to
  seize the day and have fun, or she will regret
  when she is dead.

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Structure I

• 1st. Stanza The speaker told the mistress how
  much he loved her.
• Ex
• 1. I would love you ten years before the Flood.
  ( P.739 Line78)
• ? It is very early in the history

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2. An hundred years should go to praiseTwo
hundred to adore each breast But thirty thousand
to the rest(P.739 Line1316)? The speaker
uses the words, such as an hundred years, two
hundred years, and thirty thousand years to
describe his deep and lasting love toward the
mistress.
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2nd. Stanza The speaker threatens the mistress
if she does not seize the day to have fun, she
will regret when she dies because time
flies.Ex 1. But at my back I always hear
times winged chariot hurrying near(P.739
Line2122) ? Time waits for no men.
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2. Thy beauty shall no more be found, nor in thy
marble vault shall sound my echoing songs then
worms shall try that long preserved virginity,
and your quaint honor turn to dust(P.739 Line
2529)? The speaker tells the mistress that she
should cherish time or once the mistress is dead,
there will be only worms to admire her virginity.
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3rd. Stanza The speaker convinces the mistress
to make love to him.Ex 1. Now let us sport us
while we may and now, like amrous birds of
prey. (P.740 Line3738)? Sport is a verb
here, which means make love. The speaker
convinces the mistress that she should not
repress her feeling and should make love to him.
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2. Let us roll all our strength, and all our
sweetness, up into one ball. (P.740 Line
4142)? Ball means making love. Let us make
love so that our soul and body will combine.
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3. Thorough the iron gates of life (P.740
Line 44)? If we make love, we are not afraid of
death. Here, iron gates represents death.
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4. Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand
still, yet we will make him run. (P.740 Line
4546)?This sentence has 2 meanings. One is
that our passion toward each other will melt the
sun.The other is we can speed up the time, and
do something meaningful.
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Structure II

• A. The poem is combined with time and space.
  We can see that from
• The first stanza
• 1.Had we but world enough, and time
• ?
• space
• 2.Thou by the Indian Ganges
• Of Humber would complain. I would
• River Ganges is in India, and Humber is in
  England. There is a long distance between the
  speaker (Humber) and the mistress (Indian
  Ganges), but the long distance doesnt affect his
  love toward the mistress.

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The second stanza But at my back I always
hearTimes winged chariot hurrying near
? Time
Deserts of vast eternity.
? Space
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B.1. Had we but world enough, and timeThe
speaker imagined that they had enough world and
time.2. But at my back I always hearTimes
winged chariot hurrying nearThe speaker said
that in fact, life is not eternal. 3. Now
therefore, while the youthful hueSits on thy
skin like morning dew,The speaker persuades the
mistress to seize the time and make love with
him.
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Irony

• ?. That long preserved virginity/ And your quaint
  honor turn to dust
• ? To keep her honor, the mistress sticks to her
  principle to remain her virginity. But after she
  dies, all she keeps turn out to be dust and
  nothing meaningful is left. The speaker tries to
  argue whether virginity is honorable to her.

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?. The graves fine and private place/ But none,
I think, do there embrace ? The speaker uses
ironic tone to threaten the mistress if she
doesnt seize the day to have fun, she will
regret once she dies.
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?. Deserts of eternity/ And your quaint honor
turn dust/ And into ashes all my lust. ? The
speaker said the desert is eternal because it
isnt affected by time. In the later lines, the
speaker compares quaint honor to dust, and lust
to ashes. Although dust and ashes are eternal,
just like the desert, these two things are
meaningless. The speaker said because humans are
mortal, humans should seize the time to do
whatever they would like to do. The speaker
persuades the mistress to express the desire and
seize the day to enjoy life.
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Allusion

• 1. I would love you before the Flood(P.739 Line
  8)
• ?Flood happened in the story of Noah ark, which
  occurs in Genesis some time after creation. It
  indicates he shall love her early in history.

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2. And you should, if you please, refuse the
conversion of Jews.(P.739 Line 9,10)? According
to the Bible, the conversion of Jews will come
before the end of the world, which is judgment
day(????). So this sentence means that the
speaker would love the mistress shortly before
the end of the world.
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3. That long preserved virginity, and your quaint
honor turn to dust. (P.739 Line
28-29)?Quaint honor represents what the
mistress is keeping now, which is her long
preserved virginity.
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Imagery

• 1. Vegetable (P739 Line 11)
• ?The symbolic meaning of Vegetable Love is deep
  and unconsciously growing love. The root of the
  vegetable is deep into the soil and the vegetable
  grows slowly, just like the speakers love toward
  the mistress in an ideal state.

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2. But at my back I always hear Times winged
chariot hurrying near.(P.739 Line 21-22)?Time
flies. Winged and Chariot represent something
passing quickly.
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3. Thy beauty shall no moremarble vault shall
sound my echoing song. (P.739 Line 25-27)?It
means when the mistress dies, she wont be able
to enjoy life anymore.
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4. Now let us sport us while we May And now,
like amorous birds of prey(P.740 Line
37-38)?Sport means making love. The speaker
convinces the mistress that they should make love
passionately and dont repress their desire for
sex just like amorous birds of prey.
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5. Tear our pleasure with rough strife(P.740
Line 43)?Strife originally means fight. But
here, strife means orgasm, which means the
moment when you have the greatest sexual pleasure
during sex.
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6. Iron gates of life(P.740 Line 44)? Iron
gates of life means death. When making love,
they are not afraid of death.
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7. We cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we
will make him run.(P.740 Line 45-46)? In this
sentence, using the word sun is a kind pun. One
is Sun represents heat but it still cant
affect our love, and even our passion can melt
the Sun. The other is that the sun means time,
and we have to speed up the time.
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Author

• Andrew Marvell was born at Winestead-Holderness,
  Yorkshire, on March 31, 1621 to the Rev. In 1650,
  Marvell became the tutor of twelve-year-old Mary
  Fairfax (later Duchess of Buckingham), daughter
  of Sir Thomas Fairfax, retired Lord General of
  the parliamentary forces.

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At the Yorkshire seats of the Fairfax family, Nun
Appleton House, Marvell seems to have written,
over a period about three years, most of his
non-satiric English poems. The sojourn provided
material for Marvells most profound poem, Upon
Appleton House, a poem crucial to his
development both as man and as poet. Here he
examines the competing claims of public service
and the search of personal insight. To the same
period probably belong Marvells To His Coy
Mistress and The Definition of Love.
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Work CitedAndrew Marvell http//www.luminarium.o
rg/sevenlit/marvell/marvbio.htm
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Conclusion

• The theme of this poem is carpe dien. This is a
  seducing poem. The speaker uses a lot of
  exaggerated and abstract words to describe his
  love toward the mistress and he also told the
  mistress that time flies and asked her to enjoy
  life quickly. Also, the speaker tells the
  mistress that humans are mortal so they should do
  something meaningful in their life, or they will
  have regret.

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Reflection
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ThanksFor Your Attention