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 “but” at the beginning of the second stanza implies that the romantic suggestions put forward in the first stanza are unrealistic. The second stanza moves into an argument for why drawn-out courtships are not practical because time is catching up to the speaker and his mistress with every passing moment. This captures the thematic concept of time as an enemy seeking to steal away their ability to court slowly. The transition away from the grand romantic posturing of the first stanza also shifts the tone, with the speaker becoming less adoring and more urgent in his arguments.

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 poem closes on a call to action to the mistress to help win a victory of sorts against the passing of time by indulging in pleasure with the speaker. Though they cannot “make the sun stand still,” the lovers can use what time they have left to its fullest. In doing so, they can become masters of their incorporeal pursuer.

The biological definition of the verb “transpire” means to give off water vapour through a pore or stoma. This usage of the word indicates that the mistress’s “willing soul” is seeping through “every pore,” giving her a flushed appearance as her skin is lit with the “instant fires” of her passion. The speaker seems to be saying that while she is still young and in possession of a willing and passionate soul, they should consummate their love.

Carpe-diem poems and writings have existed since at least 23 BCE, with the phrase typically credited to the Roman poet Horace. They represent an enduring tradition which urges people, often young women, to “seize life.” The persuasive tactics occupy a broad range but most share the common element of time being cast as the main villain, a trend which Marvell continues.

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 first stanza details the adoration the speaker has for his lady and the time he would devote to courting her properly if it were available to him. He makes his love clear through the ways he would dote upon her if given the time. However, the urgency of the speaker’s desires offers a different reading. It raises the question of whether his affections are genuine or false. Since time is a limited resource, perhaps he is making promises he knows he will not have to keep.

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.

It’s likely Marvell wrote “To His Coy Mistress” in the 1650s, a period where Puritanism was popular in England. Puritanism, a belief system that emphasized rejecting the pursuit of personal pleasures, clashes with the appeal that the speaker makes to his lady in the poem. It also clashes heavily with the speaker’s rejection of the notion of an afterlife. The speaker in the poem goes against the dominant religious culture of the day and makes the claim that purity in life is pointless because death is the end of all pleasures.

Rather than thinking about an afterlife or framing eternity as something sweet or romantic, the speaker instead conceptualizes it as a desert. He implies that the future does not hold joy or an often imagined blissful paradise; rather, it is instead barren and dry. There is nothing there for his lady and him, so they should instead make the most of their love while they are youthful.

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.

This line is an appeal to the ego of the lady. The speaker suggests that she deserves to be courted with the greatest possible grandeur. It also functions as a lamentation by the speaker that he cannot make good on his proposed plans because time moves so quickly.

Marvell lived through the English Civil Wars, which took place from 1642 to 1651 between the Royalists, who supported the monarchy, and the Parliamentarians, who desired a parliamentary system. Marvell was a committed Parliamentarian. Most scholars agree that “To His Coy Mistress,” published posthumously in 1681, was written either towards the end of the wars or during the early days of the Commonwealth, both of which were periods wrought with turmoil. With its theme of seizing the day before time catches up, it could potentially be read as a reaction to the bloody violence of the civil war and the uncertainty of England’s future.

Vegetables grow slowly and take time to develop, much like the how speaker’s love for his lady would if only there were more time available to them. As it is, they do not have the time. So, despite the speaker’s desire to dote upon his mistress for thousands of years, he instead urges haste so that villainous time cannot steal away the love they have in the present.

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.

The speaker frames his lady’s “coyness” as a crime, presumably one against their emotions and mutual desire. The implication that it would be fine to be coy if they had more time makes the speaker seem like less of an impatient lover and more of a man concerned with mortality.

The noun “coyness” refers to the quality of acting shy or modest in an attempt to appear alluring. The speaker’s word choice suggests that he believes the lady is only hiding her interest behind modesty, perhaps to avoid accusations of impropriety, and actually wants to pursue a sexual relationship as much as he does.

The speaker frames time as a limited resource, introducing the theme of carpe diem. Poems with this theme embrace living in the present moment and often feature lovers asking their paramours to seek pleasure with them. In Marvell’s poem, the speaker wishes to “seize the day” by consummating his love for his lady in the moment.