Mini Essay- Prompt 3

Without a doubt, Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” is centralized on the concept of time and seizing the day. However, what is interesting about this theme is not only the way he gets the message across through the actual words in the poem, but also the way his sentence structure and syntax is reflective of the theme. At various points in the poem, Marvell requires the reader to slow down and speed up while reading because of the way he forms his sentences and the punctuation he uses. In addition, emphasis is drawn to certain words relating to time, by him placing the words in a certain places in the lines of poem. 

The poem starts off with the line “Had we but world enough, and time” (line 1). Two words in particular stand out in this line: “had” and “time.” The word “had” indicates that what he is about to say is conditional; basically, there is not all the time in the world. Because “had” starts off the entire poem, emphasis is immediately drawn to this specific word. Furthermore, the sentence strategically slows down for the word “time” with Marvell’s use of punctuation. The way this first sentence is formed is only one of the ways in which Marvell incorporates the concept of time into his word choice, sentence structure, and syntax.

Another example of a way Marvell employs time in his poetry is through the intended speed of reading of each line. The slowness of the line “And the last age should show your heart” (line 18) contrasts with the speed of the line “And tear our pleasures with rough strife” (line 43). The way in which these lines are structures allows the reader to read with the speed Marvell intends him to. The contrast between slow and fast sentence structure outlines the overall concept of the poem that time is not endless and we must seize the day.  Even without understanding the words, a reader can pick up “To His Coy Mistress” and get the timely feel for the poem.