"To His Coy Mistress" (1641) is a poem written by Andrew Marvel. Unlike many of the other poems I have experienced, this one was filled with an intense lustful sexuality; with its sole purpose of getting the virgin to bed the speaker.
Firstly, the title of this poem indicates that the poem is about a mistress with the indication of "His" coy mistress being that of a possessive state. "Coy" would infer illusiveness or shyness which would merit unwillingness on the part of the mistress. From my interpretation of this poem the title does indeed do an appropriate job in the representation of what this work is about.
The initial tone of this poem leaves me feeling that the speaker is projecting an aura of being crafty or clever in nature. This is indicated by the following passage: "Had we but enough, and time. This coyness, lady, were no crime"(Marvell, 1641) Initial interpretation of this line has me to believe that the speaker is trying to woe the mistress over by inferring that if they had more the ample time her reluctance or coyness would not be a problem.
Progressively through the poem the speaker becomes less candid and more straight forward changing his tone to illustrate his true intensions. In line 15, "Thine eyes, and on they forehead gaze: Two hundred to adore each breast" (Marvell, 1641) this line shows his lust for the mistress as he clearly indicates that her breasts are more important then her eyes and face. In addition to this he also states "But thirty thousand to the rest" (Marvell, 1641); I can only surmise that the speaker is in fact referring to the females lower half which he places a higher value on then the rest of her being.
Later the tone changes again to become more cynical and morbid as the speaker now seems agitated with hig ...