Tone of "To His Coy Mistress

The tone of the first stanza of Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” seems to be one of flirtatiousness. As the title would indicate, she is not going to be an easy catch, and the young man must use all of his wits to entice her to give in to him. Marvell uses hyperbole throughout the first part of the poem to express the speakers desire to be with the young lady. The young man exaggerates time by indicating that his love for her is eternal by saying “I would/Love you ten years before the Flood,/And you should, if you please, refuse/Till the conversion of the Jews” (lines7-10). He continues by telling her he would spend 100 years just looking at her eyes and forehead (13-14), and “Two hundred to adore each breast” (15). The speaker would seem to say anything to make the young lady believe he is completely enamored with her.

The second stanza becomes much darker in tone, to one of sadness over the passage of time. The young man changes his approach from one of loving compliments to describing what will happen to them in death. He wants her to know that “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near” (22) will steal her beauty and put her in her grave (25-26). The speaker uses images of death and decomposition to try to get to the young lady’s vanity, and perhaps change her mind. He is saying to her that life is short, and she should keep that in mind while she is pushing him away.

In the last stanza, the tone changes again to one that is passionate. The young man finally appeals to the young lady’s sexual desires, invoking images of her “every pore with instant fires” (36) and “amorous birds of prey” (38). He pleads with her to “roll all our strength and all/Our sweetness up into one ball/And tear our pleasures with rough strife” (41-43). He hopes that at this point he has awakened her senses and convinced her to give in to him.

Looking at this poem as a whole, the tone is one of insincerity. The young man never proves his case by flirting with the young lady, scaring her about losing her good looks in death, or turning on her desire for him. The type of behavior exhibited by the young man in this poem could have been written in 1681 or in 2009. Time marches on, but things between men and women never really change.