Theme of "To His Coy Mistress"

The theme in this poem is pretty apparent. The speaker in the poem is in love with a lady who does not return his love and affection. She is determined to keep her virginity and to ignore his persistence towards her. “I would love you ten years before the Flood, and you should, if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews” (Andrew Marvell, lines 9-10).

The speaker is trying to tell the lady that her beauty will not last forever and that her stubbornness would be for nothing. “But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near” (21-22). He tells her that saving herself will not do her any good in the end. “And your quaint honor turned to dust” (29). He wants the lady to give into him while she is still young and beautiful. He will no longer want her when she is old.

The poem ends with the speaker trying to convince the lady once more to be his lover. “Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning glue” (33-34), “Now let us sport us while we may” (37). The poem does not say whether the lady gives in or not.