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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Impossibility of Living Forever

One of the central themes of “To His Coy Mistress” is the truth that life does not last forever. To underscore this theme, the speaker opens the poem by describing a hypothetical vision of what life might be like if humans could indeed live forever. According to this vision, there would never be a need to hurry for anything. In fact, there would be so much time and so little urgency that lovers could spend most if not all their time apart. The speaker makes this point when he envisions his mistress roaming near the Ganges in India while he remains alone, contemplating his love on the banks of the Humber in England. However, the real point of presenting the hypothetical vision of eternal life is to show two things. Firstly, it shows how absurd it is to desire having all the time in the world, since satisfying such a desire is patently impossible. Secondly, it shows that having all the time in the world would actually be deeply unfulfilling, since there would never be a reason to do anything. By contrast, the fact that life comes to an end gives humans a reason to act in the world while we can.

The Inevitability of Physical Decline

Just as life is finite, it is also characterized by inevitable physical decline. The speaker addresses the matter of decline in the poem’s second stanza, where he remarks to his mistress that, in due time, “Thy beauty shall no more be found” (line 25). In other words, with time comes age, and age diminishes the beauty of youth. But it isn’t just beauty that diminishes; the sexual potency of youth also fades with time. The speaker tells his mistress that, just as her beauty will no more be found, “Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound / My echoing song” (lines 26–27). These lines have a double meaning. On the one hand, they indicate that when they are both dead, he will no longer be able to sing songs of praise to her. On the other hand, the lines suggest that, even before they have died, his “song” (i.e., his sexual performance) will no longer take place in her “marble vault” (i.e., her vagina). These forms of decline are an inevitable result of what the speaker refers to as time’s “slow-chapped power” (line 40).

The Vitality of the Present Moment

In the face of time’s devouring jaws, the speaker argues that the only thing to do is make the best use of the present moment. It is for this reason that, after spending two stanzas exploring the impossibility of eternal life and the inevitability of death, he returns to the vitality of the present. The third stanza opens with the following lines (lines 33–37):

     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.

Note the repeated use of the word “now” in the first and last lines, which the speaker emphasizes to draw attention to the present moment. Also note the use of the present tense. The speaker describes his mistress’s skin as it is in this moment, glistening with a youthful glow. From this observation he infers that, at this very moment, she is burning with desire for him. The inevitable threat of death that the speaker discussed in the second stanza brings the immediacy of their desire into stark relief. Just as mortality confers meaning on life, it also endows the present with a greater sense of immediacy.

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