To His Coy Mistress

The shortness of life is a common literary theme used to spark motivation into audiences, but Andrew Marvell utilizes it in a slightly different way. In To His Coy Mistress, Marvell writes to a woman and explains how short life really is. Marvell idealizes life without a sense of urgency and how much could be accomplished, but shifts into reality where life is short and death is imminent. This sharp shift leads Marvell into his primary purpose: to bed the mistress. Through contrasting romantic and morbid imagery, Marvell intertwines the concepts of time, death, to convince a woman to become intimate with him. Marvell utilizes the first stanza to detail the activities he would partake in if time were no object, and incorporates romantic imagery. Marvell
He emphasizes that death is inevitable, and no one would want to feel as if his or her life's work was wasted. Marvell moves to the third stanza as if nothing had occurred, returning back to the romantic imagery to court the lady. Marvell explains that because of the aforementioned reasons, they must take advantage and engage in the activity he so desires (lines 33-34). Marvell compares the two to birds of prey, and amorous ones at that (line 38). Birds of prey are typically solitary animals that come together to mate, so Marvell compares the two to these animals. Marvell strongly returns to the romantic imagery using language such as "strength," "sweetness," and "strife" to detail the activity they must partake in. Marvell explains how the pleasures in life are what make it worth it, and encourages the lady even more (lines 41-44). Marvell finishes by emphasizing his point that their time is numbered (lines 45-46). This entire stanza serves to further encourage the lady, frequently using the word "now" to express the time sensitivity of the