"To his Coy Mistress" analysis

By Andrew Marvell

The title makes the reader expect the speaking voice. The lady is not ready to satisfy her lover's request. The choice of the word Mistress, however, makes immediately the reader understand that the man's heart is totally hers.

The reader understands that there is a coy Mistress, the poet uses an hypothetical statement in order to encourage her. The man is perfectly aware they haven't got so much time and space for their love. Coyness is a crime because it disregards the mortal nature of human being.

In line 4 we find an alliteration "long love". The man is totally in love with her, he uses a very high register, because she made a spell on him. Since it is an imaginary situation, the if clauses justify this situation. On the semantic point of view, the poet uses words referring to the main religions.

From line 5 to line 8 the poet makes the reader understand that there is a big difference between the two lovers, the woman and the man. Infact she is looking for rubies, precious stones, by the side of Indian Ganges, one of the most important river all over the World; while he is by the side of Humber, a less important English river. We can say the woman and the man are beyond compare.

 From line 9 to 10 we find an unusual ironical statement, just an apposition of love to every day images.

We also notice that there is the frequent use of the sound "I" (I, tie, by, side ...) which underlines the pain of the poet.