Time Tarries Only For Those Who Use It
...enough, and time, humankind could give Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" the age that it deserves. We would not hurry through, but pour over it at it's deserving rate. But, Time's winged chariot is so close behind, we can give only a fraction of the time it deserves. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" reasons with his mistress for consummation of their love. Yet, the speaker does not struggle out of pure lust. He argues for life, for victory over the temporality of this existence. "To His Coy Mistress" is more than persuasion to be intimate, it is also Marvell's battle to overcome humankind's finite life.
Marvell's speaker uses the first stanza of the poem to demonstrate all that his love could
do with the time that he does not have. The speaker does not lack the passion of other lovers, merely the patience. "Had we but world enough ,and time"(1), then, the speaker would take all the time it took to display his love. The mistress must use what little time she has; if not, both the speaker's and her lives are pointless. Marvell uses puissant river symbolism, " Indian Ganges.../Humber..."(5-7). The river is a classic symbol for the infinite continuance of life. Marvell employs the river to a dual meaning. First, the river represents the time that the speaker wishes he had. With that infinite time, he would withhold his love until the historic flooding of the world. Second, the river is lain in contrast to the finality of human death. The speaker does not have the time represented by the river. The speaker lacks the " hundred years should go to praise/ Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze"(13-14). The speaker lacks not love or devotion; he simply lacks the time. The mistress deserves to have such a small part of her body, the forehead, adored for a century! The speaker would spend "An age at least to every part,/ And the last age should show your...
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