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‘To His Coy Mistress
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell Revision notes GCSE English Ormerod
Poem | Key Points |
---|---|
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell SUMMARY | The speaker of the poem is trying to convince his mistress that they should not waste time in holding back from one another but should seize the moment and take pleasure while they can. |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell THEMES | 'Carpe diem' or 'seize the day' living life to the full and not simply waiting for death. |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell FEELINGS | Urgency. Impatience. Reluctance. |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell STRUCTURE | Written in rhyming couplets in 3 stanzas. 1st stanza presents ideal courtship if only they had time. 2nd stanza presents death as inevitable and not long away. 3rd stanza suggests they should seek pleasure while time allows. |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell LANGUAGE | 1. Presents an ideal courtship (one that he is not offering). 2. images of death/decay. Final line concludes his argument and offers a challenge. 3. speaker grows impatient. References to urgency/passion. Shifts away from negative language of earlier. |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell KEY QUOTES | ‘The grave’s a fine and private place/But none, I think do there embrace’ ‘An age at least to every part’ ‘Had we but world enough, and time’ |
‘To His Coy Mistress’ Andrew Marvell LINKS TO… | ‘Sonnet 116’ the effects of time and death ‘Hour’ and 'In Paris with You’ lust and physical love |