Either you have sex with me or you die.
statement which, when said, has to get someone's attention; and that is exactly .
what Andrew Marvell intends for the reader in this poem. He wants the undivided .
attention of this mistress so that he can scare her and rush her into making a .
decision the way he wants and in due time. Filled with time flavored symbolism, .
this carpe diem poem, "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell, exemplifies the .
seize the day theme. .
The cyclical, life symbolizing river, the water flowing by like time, is .
the first place Marvell places the characters. And even though they are vxery .
far apart, time still flows by for them both. As the water flows, this concept .
begins to hint at the shortness of time, for them to have sex, the source of new .
life. He then proceeds to claim that he could love her ten years before the .
flood, something already ancient, and up to the end of the world, using the .
juxtapositioning of the two views of time enhance his argument and to convince .
to accept his offer by telling her of his long-term commitment for her in the .
short-term. This flood also symbolizes life in the fresh start of the new .
covenant. Because time keeps going, with or without them, they must be active .
participants and not just the static spectator. Otherwise, the fate Marvell .
relates would become their reality. .
Marvell's vegetable love is rather oxymoronic. Love is not normally .
like the uncaring, thoughtless, and noncommunicating plant. And yet his love is .
vegetable in that it is not adaptable. She is the water, food, and light for .
his love; and as long as she is there, he will love her. She is evrerything .
that supports his love, and if she is not there, his vegetable could not be .
supported and would die. His idea of love seems to just be to say that he loves .
her for the possibility that he can share carnal knowledge; however, this is why .
he tries to convince her to seize the day.
