TO HIS COY MISTRESS

 Analysis line 11-24

11. My vegetable love should grow: the speaking voice makes a comparison between his love and the growth of a vegetable. The choice is effective, because in those times vegetables grew naturally. In this way his love should develop.

12. Vaster than empires, and more slow: it means that his love has to increase with the passing of time. He uses "empires" because it gets bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger. However it usually rises very quickly, therefore he specifies that his love should develop slowly.
Of course an hyperbole is used and an ironical tone is given.

13. An hundred years should go to praise: the speaking voice starts to explain how he would woo her. He always makes reference to a big period of time (an hundred years, two hundred....), by using an hyperbole: it makes the tone ironical.
In this line the speaking voice uses a run- on- line in order to carry faster on reading.

14: Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze: he says that he would praise her eyes for hundred years and admire her forehead, that means that he wants to kiss her (stay so near to admire her forehead).
"Thine" and "thy" are archaic form of your.

15: Two hundred to adore each breast: to adore each breast means that he would admire her naked body. The meaning is expressed by using a synecdoche.

16-17: But thirty thousand to the rest /An age at least to every part: he says that he would like to adore each part of her body, at least an age for each one . Of course thirty thousand is ironical, because he wouldn't waste time and he can't stand that she doesn't reciprocate his love.

18: And the last age should show your heart: to conclude his ironical admiration, the speaking voice announce that last but not least she should show her heart or rather her love. Therefore he refers to his desire's satisfaction.

19: For, Lady, you deserve this state: "for" is used instead of "because". Now he ironically announces that she deserves to be woo in this way. The reference to this specific woman is pointed out by the word "Lady", which addresses the statement only to her.

20: Nor would I love at lower rate: the meaning is that he would not love her less. That implies that he would take care and look after her as well.
The word "I" has got a central position in the line, in order to underline his action.

21: But at my back I always hear: the word "but" emphasizes the passage to another stanza and especially from an imaginary scene to a real one.
Here a run-on-line is used.

22: Time's winged chariot hurrying near: the speaking voice makes reference to the time. He says that he hears at his back (as if it were a charge that he would bear on his back) the time's winged chariot. That means that he suffers for the passing of time and so death's arrival. The use of the winged chariot's metaphor is a topos.

23-24: And yonder all before us lie/Deserts of vast eternity: through a run-on-line, the speaking voice says that an eternal after death is waiting for them. But it is an incitement not to waste time and so not to be coy. "Vast" makes reference to soulfulness of love.