"To His Coy Mistress"
            
             Andrew Marvell wrote his short poem "To His Coy
             Mistress" in a certain way to receive the answer that he
             wanted out of his mistress. Marvell uses meter, imagery,
             and tone to persuade his lady to further commit in their
             relationship. This poem has a very strong carpe diem, or
             seize the day, theme which is conveyed throughout the poem.
             In general, the meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter.
             Marvell uses pauses as well as runs one line into the next
             without a pause to break up the neat pattern that the rhyme
             scheme of the poem imposes. The first two lines, for
             example, contain internal pauses that break the tetrameter
             into shorter units; "Had we but world enough, and time,
             This coyness, lady, were no crime." The third line contains
             no pauses and runs directly into the forth, so that the
             rhyme runs opposite the rhythm of the couplet. Near the end
             of the poem, the lines seem to be coming out faster than at
             the beginning, creating a sense of urgency from the speaker.
             These last few lines are the lines in which the speaker
             talks about how the two should seize the day, and live life
             to the fullest.
             The use of imagery throughout the poem is an effective
             means of conveying his message to the lady. His references
             to the Great Flood and the conversion of the Jews are both
             examples of biblical imagery. His eternal love towards the
             lady is backed up by the timelessness of the Bible. The
             references of the tomb are perhaps the greatest images of
             all, the images of death. Nothing depicts the urgency and
             shortness of life better than death. Images that are
             implied in the last stanza are those of a race against time.
             The goal is to try to beat time, and though time will
             eventually win, the "runners" must try to keep up with time
             for as long as possible. And because no way exists to beat
             time, Marvell suggests that they must live life to...