Literary Devices in To His Coy Mistress

In the final stanza, the pronouns shift from primarily first-person singular to first-person plural. This symbolizes the metaphorical as well as the longed-for, literal union of the speaker and his lady: they become an “us” rather than two distinct individuals. The speaker shifts his tone away from the gloominess of the second stanza to focus on empowering himself and his lady to live their lives to the fullest as partners in the battle against time.

The third stanza focuses on taking action, and this simile, which compares the lovers to birds of prey, creates a more violent feeling in the poem, turning love into a battle against time. The speaker urges his lady to join him in “devouring” time through shared pleasure, shifting the tone away from the gloominess of the second stanza and instead becoming more determined as the couple prepares to do battle.

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.

The speaker employs dark humor to lighten the mood set out by the previous lines’ death imagery. His goal is to convince his lady to consummate their love, but the previous lines contain gloomy images that do little to inspire romance. This couplet shifts the tone away from the dreariness of death, employing some gallows humor to refocus his argument in favor of consummating their love while they are still alive.

The poem shifts away from leisurely, romantic visual imagery, like rubies and rivers, and begins to reference death and the process of bodily decay. The concept of the union of lovers is contrasted with the stark imagery of the union of worm and corpse, indicating that since death is inevitable, the postponement of earthly pleasures is a waste, not a virtue.

The personification of time as a pursuer adds a sense of urgency to the speaker’s arguments. Since time is cast as the villain within the poem, equipping it with a “winged chariot” contributes to the idea that the passing of time is not only inevitable, but also sinister.

The poem is made up of rhyming couplets. The opening four lines are made up of two “closed” couplets, or couplets that each represent full sentences. This beginning adds a sense of measured urgency to the poem as the statements are succinct rather than extended or open.