"the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews...."See in text(Text of the Poem)
The speaker alludes to both the biblical flood, which represents the “rebirth” of the world, and the “conversion of the Jews,” a figure of speech in Marvell’s time referring to the end of the world. The two events represent a large span of time: the courtship began in the past and the mistress can refuse the speaker’s advances until the end of the world, in the far future. The biblical allusions add a sense of grandeur to the speaker’s declarations, giving their love some sense of the divine.
