Most of Marvell’s poetry was published after his death, in 1681. He has written a lot of different kinds of poetry and prose. Much of the prose that he wrote consisted of political pamphlets and satires. His poetry consists of love poems, but also religious and philosophical poems. Marvell is often seen as one of the metaphysical poets.
To His Coy Mistress
This poem is often called a carpe diem poem. Carpe diem is Latin and means: seize the day (in Dutch we say: pluk de dag). In other words, the poem’s message is to enjoy life while it lasts.
The speaker addresses his lady, his ‘mistress’, whom he calls “coy”: she is a bit prudish. The speaker starts with saying that if they, as lovers, had all the time in the world, he would not mind her prudishness. If they had “world enough and time”, he would have all the time in the world to get to know her and admire her.
But, in the back of his mind he knows better, he knows that time flies: it is a “wingèd chariot hurrying near”. They do not have all the time in the world. There will be a time when her “beauty shall no more be found”. In other words, she will not be young and beautiful forever. What is more, she will be dead and the worms shall eat her. The speaker’s message to his lady seems to be that he invites her to make good use of their time together. So, instead of trying to make the sun stand still, they will try to outrun the sun. Then, their life may seem short, but it will be a lot of fun…