Marvel's "To His Coy Mistress": a Baroque reworking of conventions

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Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) was an English Metaphysical poet. Marvell wrote several satirical poems against the corruption of the court, but they were published after his death (for being too subversive). ?To His Coy Mistress', though not about politics, is also a subversive poem. It is an invitation to physical love addressed by the speaker to his mistress who is, according to him, playing coy. The poem is a perfect example of a Carpe Diem. Carpe Diem is a phrase from the Latin poet Horace, meaning "seize the day". In this sense, Marcel, who is mostly referred to as a Metaphysical poet, could be considered as a Cavalier poet. The poem consists in 46 verses, divided in three parts (1-20) (21-32) (32-46); to follow the pattern of a logical argument, but we'll see that in other regards, we might rather see two halves; from the first line to the l.20 and l.20 to the end. The verses are mainly iambic tetrameters, and at first, appear as very regular. How does the poem, constitute itself as a subversive work while playing with the conventions and regularity?

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[...] Marvel's His Coy Mistress”: a Baroque reworking of conventions Andrew Marvel (1621-1678) was an English metaphysical poet. He studied in Cambridge's trinity college, where he wrote his first poems. In his early life he has been the tutor of Lord Fairfax's daughter, and lived at the family estate of Nun Appleton House. There he wrote the poem I will study : To His Coy Mistress. Later he involved in politics along with another poet, John Milton (who became a friend), in Cromwell's Council of State. [...]

[...] The verses are mainly iambic tetrameters, and at first, appear as very regular. How does the poem, playing with the conventions and regularity, constitute itself as a subversive work? I. An Ironical Petrarchan poetry II. A Carpe Diem ; Eroticism and Bravado III. A Baroque vision of Time and Death I. An ironical Petrarchan poetry In the first half of the poem, the speaker has a reverie in which he tells his mistress how he would love and court her if he could 1. The conventions The Complaint. [...]

[...] He provocatively invites his mistress to physical love, but not without, not respecting any of the conventions of courting. First, he seems to mock her “long preserved virginity” l.28 that Petrarchan poets so lovingly respected. The rhyme is made of and “virginity” which not only for its irregularity, appeals the reader's attention, as long as the speaker is trying this virginity . Moreover, the image of worms penetrating the dead body carries a full net of the poem's meanings: a morbid eroticism, a mockery to preserved virginity and a row image of death Another provocative statement is made at the line 25 onwards, in which the speaker says beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound, My echoing song ( . [...]

[...] Here, Marvel proposes to devour the time, rather than “languish in his slow-chapped power” (l.41) Mental trick as a conceit. Finally, the ultime challenge is to the Sun, the ruler of Time, who they are going to “make as they can't make it “stand still” (Copernican revolution) baroque mind turns : impossible conception of the mastering of Time. But as it is impossible to master Time in real, Marvel does it through his imagination and his poetry. The last stanza is then an exercise on the rhythm and the meters anomalies. [...]

[...] A Baroque poem ; modern and subversive 1. A Baroque reworking of conventions If Marvel, in To His Coy Mistress plays with the conventions, it is to built his own poetical language within the poem. On the ruins, and the parody of old Petrarchan poetry, appear new rules. He for example uses the witty conceit grave's a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace” (l.31-32) But instead of using the conceit to emphasize love, he does use it to create a kind of repulsion with a morbid eroticism, giving birth to the disturbing image of a grave as a nuptial bed. [...]