Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress

The Non-Discriminatory Nature of Time in Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” Time passes. Its journey is oblivious to power, weakness, beauty, or mercy. The nature of time itself lies in its unrelenting progression through life, until we are removed from it’s favor and then wither and die. The purpose of most carpe diem poetry is to draw a character’s attention (usually the female) to the pressing nature of time’s progress, …

…desire to take advantage of life and challenge time’s passing by rushing and packing any available time with favorable experiences and passionate memories. In essence, these two extrapolated connotations do not differ in their intended messages. The former suggests the specific actions that the latter commends to be ideal. Marvell’s use of language, diction, and tone successfully weaves the immediate goals of carpe diem philosophy with the extended ideologies that such poetry implies.