"To His Coy Mistress": Getting Your Essay Started.
...ally with a married man. However, you wouldn’t think of a “Mistress” as “Coy,” they bring about the connotation of some sex-crazed maniac. There is a lot of use of the phrase, “We would,” throughout this poem, it’s as if he is telling her what they would do if they could. But what is stopping them? Perhaps his wife is the reason, this could be why the poet uses diction to suggest subtlety. This poem comes from a time of great religion, which is reflected in it’s references, for example, “I would love you ten years before the flood,” this is of course reference to the biblical flood. The bible, and religion, are both full of love, making it’s reference very relevant to the poem. Him saying he would love her ten years before this “flood,” also means that he has loved all his life and time before that, he would forever love her. “And your quaint honour turn to dust, and into ashes all my lust,” recalling the funeral ceremony ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’ He does not ‘rubbish’ these virtues, but rather says that whatever they mean to her now, they will mean nothing when she is forgotten. “The grave is a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.” He does not fear death, it is a 'fine place', apparently, but it must be accepted and it is pointless to suggest things such as he did in the verse before, because there is only a short lifetime, and nothing afterwards. This strong antithesis, that life is short and love must finish with the end of life, seems to be impossi...