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Overview
“To His Coy Mistress” is a poem by the English poet Andrew Marvell, likely written in the 1650s, but not published until the 1680s
. By far the best-remembered work by Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” is what’s known as a carpe diem poem, from the Latin phrase for “seize the day.” Carpe diem poetry began with the Greek poet Horace, who once wrote in an ode: “seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.” Marvell’s speaker uses this same lofty trope to achieve a baser goal: to convince his “coy mistress” to have sex with him.Read a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “To His Coy Mistress.”
