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Andrew Marvell:  “To His Coy Mistress”

5.1 Irony & Narrative Distance

Andrew Marvell (supplement)

5.2 Carol Pearson's Archetypes

Andrew Marvell (supplement)

5 Main Episode - Part 1

Andrew Marvell - “To His Coy Mistress” (Waywords)

5 Main Episode - Part 2

Andrew Marvell - “To His Coy Mistress” (Waywords)

What do we do with–how do we read–can we make us of–a classic and famous metaphysical poem which is also misogynistic?

“This coyness, lady, were no crime.
But…”

To His Coy Mistress 
Andrew Marvell, 1681

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love’s day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side,
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain.  I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, Lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear
Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honor turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave’s a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run. 

 
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Chapters - Part 1

  1. Intro
  2. Marvell and TS Eliot
  3. Metaphysical Poetry
  4. Reading: Marvell’s “Coy Mistress”
  5. A Quick Breakdown
  6. Carpe Diem
  7. Christian and Pagan
  8. What’s Ahead
  9. Outro

Bibliography for Main Episode

Andrew Marvell - To His Coy Mistress - Analysis. Poetry Lecture by Dr. Andrew Barker. Directed by Andrew Barker. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUR7sNTDolY. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
 
Andrew Marvell Society – Connecting Marvellians. https://marvell.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.
 
Augustine, Matthew C. “The Chameleon or the Sponge?: Marvell, Milton, and the Politics of Literary History.” Studies in Philology, vol. 111, no. 1, 2014, pp. 132–62. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24392002.
 
Bhattacharya, Ramkrishna. “Problem of Reading/ Studying Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’ (Draft).” Unpublished Essay. www.academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/12144450/Problem_of_Reading_Studying_Marvells_To_His_Coy_Mistress_draft_. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
 
Boucher, Geoff. “‘To His Coy Mistress’ as Memento Mori: Reading Marvell after Zizek.” International Journal of Žižek Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, Feb. 2020. zizekstudies.org, http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/IJZS/article/view/1156.
 
Braden, Gordon. “‘Viuamus, Mea Lesbia’ in the English Renaissance.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 9, no. 2, 1979, pp. 199–224. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446948.
 
Brody, Jules. “The Resurrection of the Body: A New Reading of Marvell’s to His Coy Mistress.” ELH, vol. 56, no. 1, 1989, pp. 53–79. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2873123.
 
Brunner, Larry. “‘Love At Lower Rate’: A Christian Reading of ‘To His Coy Mistress.’” Christianity and Literature, vol. 38, no. 4, 1989, pp. 25–44. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44311692.
 
Carroll, John J. “The Sun and the Lovers in ‘To His Coy Mistress.’” Modern Language Notes, vol. 74, no. 1, 1959, pp. 4–7. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3040094.
 
Christian, Henry A. “Marvell’s Mistress’ Rubies.” Modern Language Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 1980, pp. 33–37. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3194166.
 
Cousins, A. D. “The Replication and Critique of Libertinism in Andrew Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress.’” Renaissance Studies, vol. 28, no. 3, 2014, pp. 392–404. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24424022.
 
De F. Lord, George. “Innocence and Experience in The Poetry of Andrew Marvell.” The British Library Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, 1979, pp. 129–44. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/42554096.
 
Digenova, M. “On ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell.” The North American Review, vol. 295, no. 2, 2010, pp. 24–24. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25750624.
 
Duyfhuizen, Bernard. “Textual Harassment of Marvell’s Coy Mistress: The Institutionalization of Masculine Criticism.” College English, vol. 50, no. 4, 1988, pp. 411–23. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/377620.
 
Eliot, T. S. “Andrew Marvell.” The World, Richard A. Parker, 21 Sept. 2005, https://theworld.com/~raparker/exploring/tseliot/works/essays/andrew_marvell.html.
 
Enterline, Lynn. “Marvell’s Unfortunate Lovers.” The Oxford Handbook of Andrew Marvell, edited by Martin Dzelzainis and Edward Holberton, Mar. 2019. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736400.001.0001.
 
—. “Marvell’s Unfortunate Lovers, a Single Chapter of a Title in Oxford Handbooks Online.” The Oxford Handbook of Andrew Marvell 2019. www.academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/38809775/.
 
Frampton, Saul. When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know She Is Not Playing with Me ? Montaigne and Being in Touch with Life. Faber, 2011.
 
Friedman, Donald M. “Marvell Sempervirens.” Modern Philology, vol. 113, no. 1, 2015, pp. 135–50. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/681051.
 
Gleckner, Robert. “Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ and Edward Young’s Book of Job.” Blake Issue Archive, 1987, https://bq.blakearchive.org/21.3.gleckner.
 
Greteman, Blaine. “The ‘Marvelous’ Revaluation of a Life and Its Meaning: A Review-Essay.” Milton Quarterly, edited by Nigel Smith et al., vol. 47, no. 3, 2013, pp. 163–71. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24462075.
 
Guerin, Wilfred L., editor. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, 1992.
 
Hall, Donald. “The Manyness of Andrew Marvell.” The Sewanee Review, vol. 97, no. 3, 1989, pp. 431–39. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27546089.
 
Hirst, Derek, and Steven Zwicker, editors. The Cambridge Companion to Andrew Marvell. Cambridge University Pres, 2011.
 
Hirst, Derek, and Steven N. Zwicker. Andrew Marvell, Orphan of the Hurricane. 1st ed, Oxford University Press, 2012.
 
Hogan, Patrick G. “Marvell’s ‘Vegetable Love.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 60, no. 1, 1963, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4173402.
 
Hope, A. D. . “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell.” Favorite Poems and Poets Around the World, 1978, https://reelyredd.com/aussie-hope-coymistress0809.htm.
 
Hope, Bob. “Theses on Fictitious Science.” Foundations, 3 Aug. 2020, https://medium.com/fan-publication/theses-on-fictitious-science-c607c925ed58.
 
K, Zeki Michael. A Psychoanalytical Approach To Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” in Connection with Thanataphobia, The Reality Principle and the Deadipal Complex. www.academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/10436120/A_Psychoanalytical_Approach_To_Andrew_Marvells_To_His_Coy_Mistress_In_Connection_With_Thanataphobia_The_Reality_Principle_And_Thedeadipal_Complex. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
 
Karon, Jeffrey W. “Cohesion as Logic: The Possible Worlds of Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress.’” Style, vol. 27, no. 1, 1993, pp. 91–105. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/42946023.
 
Kerrigan, William. “A Theory of Female Coyness.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 38, no. 2, 1996, pp. 209–22. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40755098.
 
Laguna, Gabriel. “There Is No Sex Life in The Grave | PDF | Poetry.” Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/document/207438211/There-is-No-Sex-Life-in-the-Grave. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
 
Larkin, Philip. “The Changing Face of Andrew Marvell.” English Literary Renaissance, vol. 9, no. 1, 1979, pp. 149–57. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43446942.
 
Moldenhauer, Joseph J. “The Voices of Seduction in ‘To His Coy Mistress’: A Rhetorical Analysis.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 10, no. 2, 1968, pp. 189–206. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40753986.
 
Mottram, Stewart. “A Poet for Our Times? Andrew Marvell and the Covid-19 Pandemic.” University of Hull, 3 Nov. 2021, https://www.hull.ac.uk/work-with-us/more/media-centre/news/2021/a-poet-for-our-times-andrew-marvell-and-the-covid-19-pandemic.aspx.
 
Narveson, Robert D., and George Bellis. “Two Comments on ‘Textual Harassment of Marvell’s Coy Mistress: The Institutionalization of Masculine Criticism.’” College English, vol. 51, no. 4, 1989, pp. 424–29. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/377531.
 
Paglia, Camille. Break, Blow, Burn. 1st ed, Pantheon Books, 2005.
 
Peacock, Alan J. “Marvell: ‘To His Coy Mistress 41-6.’” Hermathena, no. 114, 1972, pp. 29–30. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23040354.
 
Pearson, Carol. Carol S. Pearson’s Website: Archetypal Narrative Intelligence (NQ). https://www.carolspearson.com/. Accessed 3 Jan. 2022.
—. “StoryWell.” StoryWell, https://www.storywell.com/home.htm. Accessed 5 Jan. 2022.
 
Pearson, Carol, and Katherine Pope. “Toward a Typology of Female Portraits in Literature.” CEA Critic, vol. 37, no. 4, 1975, pp. 9–13. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44376821.
 
Simon, Ed. “Read Marvelous Mutable Marvell Online.” Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/article/501163378/Marvelous-Mutable-Marvell. Accessed 6 Jan. 2022.
 
Slattery, Dennis. Carol S. Pearson’s “Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within.” Depth Insights, Summer 2015, https://www.depthinsights.com/Depth-Insights-scholarly-ezine/ezine-issue-8-winter-2015/review-of-carol-s-pearsons-persephone-rising-awakening-the-heroine-within-using-the-power-of-story-to-transform-your-life-new-york-harperelixir-2015by-dennis-patrick-slattery/.
 
Smith, Nigel. “Transvernacular Poetry and Government: Andrew Marvell in Early Modern Europe.” Marvell Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, Aug. 2017, p. 6. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.16995/ms.14.

Bibliography for The Original

Gleckner, Robert. “Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ and Edward Young’s Book of Job.” Blake Issue Archive, 1987, https://bq.blakearchive.org/21.3.gleckner.

Bibliography for Pearson’s Archetypes

 
Pearson, Carol. Carol S. Pearson’s Website: Archetypal Narrative Intelligence (NQ). https://www.carolspearson.com/. Accessed 3 Jan. 2022.
 
 
—. “StoryWell.” StoryWell, https://www.storywell.com/home.htm. Accessed 5 Jan. 2022.
 
 
—, and Katherine Pope. “Toward a Typology of Female Portraits in Literature.” CEA Critic, vol. 37, no. 4, 1975, pp. 9–13. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/44376821.
 
 
Slattery, Dennis. Carol S. Pearson’s “Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within.” Depth Insights, Summer 2015, https://www.depthinsights.com/Depth-Insights-scholarly-ezine/ezine-issue-8-winter-2015/review-of-carol-s-pearsons-persephone-rising-awakening-the-heroine-within-using-the-power-of-story-to-transform-your-life-new-york-harperelixir-2015by-dennis-patrick-slattery/.
 

Credits

Original music for The Waywords Podcast is by Randon Myles

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

Cite this podcast with MLA format:

Chisnell, Steve. “Andrew Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’.” Waywords Studio, 10 Dec.. 2021, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/andrew-marvell-coy-mistress/.

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