Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” might seem like a sentimental poem; however, when we look closer it becomes evident that it’s simply a selfish guy trying to score a girl. The narrator hides his true purpose in the first two stanzas then in the final stanza he concludes by revealing his intentions, but not with out using specific word choice to sound better. In the first stanza the narrator compliments how beautiful the mistress is and says he would devote thousands of years to just admiring her. While this seems nice it is just a ploy to make her like him. The first line says “Had we buy world enough, and time” meaning if they had enough time he could do all these things he is about to say. Nevertheless, this line also means he doesn’t have to do any of the things because he said at the beginning they don’t have the time for any of it so she should just ignored it, but if she is like most girls, she will certainly fall into his trap. He is all talk; he can say whatever he wants but it doesn’t count unless he actually does what he says. After being so nice he continues by tell her she’s going to get old and die. To me that sounds harsh but I guess his use of kind words hides it. He also tells her everything she is saving, like her virginity, will be to waste, again a bit harsh, but this is what he wants. It seems like he is trying to scare her into being with him. He is the classic guy; he will stop at nothing to get the girl he wants. Moreover, he continues his quest for this mistress by finishing his persuasion with combinations of violent and loving words in order to get her to want him yet make it seem like she loves him. His true intentions are revealed in the line “Now let us sport us while we may”. She is like a sports games he’s trying to win and once he has won he can forget about it. He said it himself it’s a “sport” to him proving he just wants the girl and doesn’t feel any love just desire.
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