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Marvell does not provide any specific information about the setting of “To His Coy Mistress.” The poem revolves entirely around the speaker’s direct address of his mistress, and his speech includes no clear references to the particular place where the exchange is happening. Since he is attempting to convince his mistress to sleep with him, it would be reasonable to infer that they are in a bedroom, but in truth, we cannot know. It is worth noting, however, that throughout his address the speaker develops a symbolic geography. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker asks his mistress to imagine having all the world at their disposal. She could seek rubies “by the Indian Ganges’ side” (line 5), while he would contemplate his love for her “by the tide / Of Humber” (lines 6–7). Later, as the speaker’s thoughts turn toward darker subjects, he presents the image of “Deserts of vast eternity” (line 24). In both cases, the speaker’s imagined geography has a symbolic function. Whereas the rivers mentioned earlier in the poem conjure a sense of vitality and time’s flow, the desert evokes the vast stretch of empty time that follows death.

Next section Themes

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