To - His - Coy - Mistress

To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day, Thou by the Indian Ganges side Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow. An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart. For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song; then worms shall try That long preserv'd virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust. The grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace. Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like am'rous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapt pow'r. Let us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball, And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.

To His Coy Mistress

A Poem by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) Study Guide

Type of Work

.......\also classify as a metaphysical poem. Metaphysical poetry, pioneered by John Donne, tends to focus on the following:

Startling comparisons or contrasts of a metaphysical (spiritual, transcendent, abstract) quality to a concrete (physical, tangible, sensible) object. In \(line 11) in a waggish metaphor.

Mockery of idealized romantic poetry through crude or shocking imagery, as in lines 27 and 28 (\try / That long preserved virginity').

Gross exaggeration (hyperbole), as in line 15 (\

Expression of personal, private feelings, such as those the young man expresses in \ Presentation of a logical argument, or syllogism. In \His Coy Mistress,\this argument may be outlined as follows: (1) We could spend decades or even centuries in courtship if time stood still and we remained young. (2) But time passes swiftly and relentlessly. (3) Therefore, we must enjoy the pleasure of each other now, without further ado.The conclusion of the argument begins at Line 33 with \

The Title

.......The title suggests (1) that the author looked over the shoulder of a young man as he wrote a plea to a young lady and (2) that the author then reported the plea exactly as the young man expressed it. However, the author added the title, using the third-person possessive pronoun \reader that the lady is no easy catch; the word \and lover. It can also serve as the female equivalent of master. In \synonym for lady or sweetheart. In reality, of course, Marvell wrote the entire poem.

The Persona (The Young Man)

.......Although Andrew Marvell writes \the plea of another man (fictional, of course). The poet enters the mind of the man and reports his thoughts as they manifest themselves. The young man is impatient, desperately so, unwilling to tolerate temporizing on the part of the young lady. His motivation appears to be carnal desire rather than true love; passion rules him. Consequently, one may describe him as immature and selfish.

Theme and Summary

.......“To His Coy Mistress” presents a familiar theme in literature—carpe diem (meaning seize the day), a term

coined by the ancient Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace (65-8 B.C.). Here is the gist of Andrew Marvell's poem: In response to a young man’s declarations of love for a young lady, the lady is playfully hesitant, artfully demure. But dallying will not do, he says, for youth passes swiftly. He and the lady must take advantage of the moment, he says, and “sport us while we may.” Oh, yes, if they had “world enough, and time” they would spend their days in idle pursuits, leisurely passing time while the young man heaps praises on the young lady. But they do not have the luxury of time, he says, for “time's wingéd chariot” is ever racing along. Before they know it, their youth will be gone; there will be only the grave. And so, the poet pleads his case: Seize the day.

Meter and Rhyme

The poem is in iambic tetrameter, with eight syllables (four feet) per line. Each foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The last syllable of Line 1 rhymes with the last syllable of line 2, the last syllable of line 3 rhymes with the last syllable of line 4, the last syllable of line 5 rhymes with the last syllable of line 6, and so on. Such pairs of rhyming lines are called couplets. The following two lines, which open the poem, exhibit the meter and rhyme prevailing in most of the other couplets in the poem:

......1..................2...................3...............4

Had WE..|..but WORLD..|..e NOUGH..|..and TIME .......1.......... ..2........... ....3...............4 This COY..|..ness LA..|..dy WERE..|..no CRIME Setting

The poem does not present a scene in a specific place in which people interact. However, the young man and the young lady presumably live somewhere in England (the native land of the author), perhaps in northeastern England near the River Humber. The poet mentions the Humber in line 7.

Characters

Young Man: He pleads with a young lady to stop playing hard to get and accept his love. Young Lady: A coquettish woman. Notes

1.....coyness: Evasiveness, hesitancy, modesty, coquetry, reluctance; playing hard to get.

2.....which . . . walk: Example of enjambment (carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next line without a pause).

3.....Ganges: River in Asia originating in the Himalayas and flowing southeast, through India, to the Bay of Bengal. The young man here suggests that the young lady could postpone her commitment to him if her youth lasted a long, long time. She could take real or imagined journeys abroad, even to India. She could also refuse to commit herself to him until all the Jews convert to Christianity. But since youth is fleeting (as the poem later points out), there is

no time for such journeys. She must submit herself to him now.

4.....rubies: Gems that may be rose red or purplish red. In folklore, it is said that rubies protect and maintain virginity. Ruby deposits occur in various parts of the world, but the most precious ones are found in Asia, including Myanmar (Burma), India, Thailand, Sri, Lanka, Afghanistan, and Russia.

5.....Humber: River in northeastern England. It flows through Hull, Andrew Marvell's hometown.

6.....Flood. . . Jews: Resorting to hyperbole, the young man says that his love for the young lady is unbounded by time. He would love her ten years before great flood that Noah outlasted in his ark (Gen. 5:28-10:32) and would still love her until all Jews became Christians at the end of the world.

vegetable love: love cultivated and nurtured like a vegetable so that it flourishes prolifically 8.....this state: This lofty position; this dignity.

9.....Time's wingèd chariot: In Greek mythology, the sun was personified as the god Apollo, who rode his golden chariot from east to west each day. Thus, Marvell here associates the sun god with the passage of time. 10...marble vault: The young lady's tomb. 11...worms: a morbid phallic reference. 12...quaint: Preserved carefully or skillfully.

13...dew: The 1681 manuscript of the poem uses glew (not dew), apparently as a coined past tense for glow. 14...transpires: Erupts, breaks out, emits, gives off. 15...slow-chapt: Chewing or eating slowly. 16...Thorough: Through.

Comments

Lines 5 and 6, Lines 23 and 24, Lines 27 and 28: The final stressed vowel sounds of these pairs of lines do not rhyme, as do the final stressed vowel sounds of all the other pairs of lines.

Three Sections of the Poem: Lines 1-20 discuss what would happen if the young man and young woman had unlimited time. Lines 21-32 point out that they do not have unlimited time. Lines 33-46 urge the young woman to seize the day and submit.

Andrew Marvell

.......Andrew Marvell was born in Winestead, South Yorkshire, England, on March 31, 1621. His father was a minister. The family moved to Hull, in the county of Humberside, when Andrew was three. There, he grew up and attended school. In 1639, a year after his mother died, Marvell received a bachelor's degree from Cambridge University's Trinity College. His father died in 1640. Between 1642 and 1646, Marvell traveled in continental Europe, visiting France, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. In 1651, he accepted a position at Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, as tutor to 12-year-old Mary Fairfax, the daughter Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander of the Parliamentary army in the 1640's during the English Civil Wars. Marvell remained in that position until 1652. .......While at Nun Appleton, he wrote several of his most acclaimed poems, including \\

England, Ireland, and Scotland during the Commonwealth period (1653-1658). Marvell had praised Cromwell in a 1650 poem, \Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland.\In 1657, Marvell served under the great scholar and poet John Milton in the foreign office and in 1659 was elected to Parliament to represent Hull. Marvell was best known during his lifetime for his political achievements and his political satires in prose and verse. His best poetry was published in Miscellaneous Poems 1681 from a manuscript his housekeeper found while going through his belongings shortly after his death in 1678. In the 20th Century, critics began to acknowledge him as an outstanding poet of his time and to acclaim \allusions to the poem in \

致羞怯的情人

如果我们的世界够大，时间够多， 小姐，这样的羞怯就算不上罪过。 我们会坐下来，想想该上哪边 去散步，度过我们漫漫的爱情天。 你会在印度的恒河河畔 寻得红宝石：我则咕哝抱怨， 傍着洪泊湾的潮汐。我会在 诺亚洪水前十年就将你爱， 你如果高兴，可以一直说不要， 直到犹太人改信别的宗教。 我植物般的爱情会不断生长， 比帝国还要辽阔，还要缓慢； 我会用一百年的时间赞美 你的眼睛，凝视你的额眉； 花两百年爱慕你的每个乳房， 三万年才赞赏完其它的地方； 每个部位至少花上一个世代， 在最后一世代才把你的心秀出来。 因为，小姐，你值得这样的礼遇， 我也不愿用更低的格调爱你。

可是在我背后我总听见 时间带翼的马车急急追赶； 而横陈在我们眼前的

却是无垠永恒的荒漠。 你的美绝不会再现芳踪， 你大理石墓穴里，我的歌声 也不会回荡：那时蛆虫将品尝 你那珍藏已久的贞操， 你的矜持会化成灰尘， 我的情欲会变成灰烬： 坟墓是个隐密的好地方， 但没人会在那里拥抱，我想。

因此，现在趁青春色泽 还像朝露在你的肌肤停坐， 趁你的灵魂自每个毛孔欣然 散发出实时的火焰， 此刻让我们能玩就玩个尽兴； 此刻，像发情的猛禽 宁可一口把我们的时光吞掉 也不要在慢嚼的嘴里虚耗。 让我们把所有力气，所有 甜蜜，滚成一个圆球， 粗鲁狂猛地夺取我们的快感 冲破一扇扇人生的铁栅栏： 这样，我们虽无法叫太阳 驻足，却可使他奔跑向前。

Andrew Marvell(1621-78,安德鲁?马维尔)是所谓玄学派(Metaphysical School)诗人之一。这派诗人有独特的文风,完全不同于此前流行的抒情诗(Lyric)优美流畅的诗句,其诗中常有各种辩论,而且喜好用奇特的比喻(conceit,玄学奇喻)和概念。

标题 To His Coy Mistress 是作戏剧独白(dramatic monologue)解，且其戏剧性对理解全诗有着重要意义。作者、虚拟作者（即记录本诗者）和虚拟主人公“我”之间的关系既是重叠的(overlapping)，也是分明的(distinct)，这种错综复杂的关系埋藏在文本的背后，需要去发掘。coy 显然不是什么好词，是一个coded word, 暗示这位女友故做娇羞，play it coy, play it hard-to-get.

该诗从求爱战术(courting strategy)的角度，罗列了Illusion(迷魂汤)、Disillusion(浇凉水) 、新迷魂汤(new

illusion) ，

“给含羞的恋人”一诗修辞上特点,可以总结为“夸张”和“矛盾”。 夸张:

第一节对爱情的铺张,从时间上和空间上夸张到极致,效果自然不在营造浪漫气氛,而是对抒情或感伤的parody。

第二节对死后世界无奈的渲染,恰恰是对第一节的coyness和love的否定,第一节的irony。 矛盾:

第一节精神上的永远(抒情的、浪漫的)跟第二节肉体的稍纵即逝(现实的、理智的)。 第三节的情欲追求lust和第一节的精神恋爱love的矛盾。

马伏尔的高明在于，对女友的劝诱带着对宇宙和人生的哲思，意象极其深广。地理跨度(Topografical sweep) 从 遥远的印度恒河到他家乡的 humber 河，时间跨度(temporal sweep)从史前的洪水(the flood) 到启示录的末日(conversion of the Jews)。他用拉伯雷式的夸张的数字极言对女友身体每一部分的的倾慕，语气近于谐谑，但正是这些夸张的数字和排比营造了奔腾的气势。

行文到此，马伏尔忽然话锋一转，对前文的设想 (Had we but world enough, and time)做了否定。前辈已指出，《致娇羞女友》一诗三节其实是个三段论：1）如果A，那么B。2）不是A，那么不是B。3）所以，C。环环相扣的逻辑增强了说服力。

第二节的开始是马伏尔那句著名的 But at my back I always hear Times winged chariot hurrying near:

一句道破一个真理。时间原来是一个无情的敌人，坐着战车气势汹汹地飞驰而来。比之“逝者如斯夫”的中庸的感叹，马伏尔的战争的比喻(military metaphor)更有紧迫性和挑衅性，更令人惶涑不安。 马伏尔对美人身后种种凄凉的津津有味的描绘，目的在于打动女友去珍惜现世的时光。

第三节行文极其有力，birds of prey, devour, ball, rough strife, iron gates 的比喻都很凶猛，有与时间展开大战的气势，很好的回应了第一二节提出的问题。

整首诗以三段式的说理架构，企图说服爱人相爱要趁早，勿再羞怯矜持

本文来源：https://www.bwwdw.com/article/a8e.html