"To His Coy Mistress", by Andrew Marvell was a witty approach to exploring the ravages of time. He uses the example of a typical naive hormonal young man who tries to persuade a shy young women to sleep with him, through his rant on seizing the day to depict the unfairness of time.
The speaker who is a young man, speaks of gruesome images on the effects of time to urge the young lady to have sex with him, by telling her that "worms shall try that long preserved virginity", to point out that virginity is something that you cannot take past the grave and would be wasted if not used in this lifetime. Although the young man appears selfish and immature, his ingenuous plan conveys a strong message that time is of the essence. Marvell's draws the relationship between youth and time, when the speaker says "I would love you ten years before the flood" to express the unavoidable hands of time, as the young man sees time as something that will not last forever, but believes as long as he has her love with him, the days will feel longer and agreeable. Marvell depicts the ravages of time beautifully to show that time is inevitable so we should take advantage of our our time on earth that we do have.
That is a beautiful phrase- ravages of time. Yet, why do you say the speaker in this poem is a young man? You should read Erica Peralta's post regarding the age of the speaker. Initially you note that the speaker is interested in the mistress' virginity but in the end you state " believes as long as he has her love with him, the days will feel longer and agreeable."? Also, when he mentions the flood, or in fact the Flood, the speaker is making an allusion. What is he alluding to?
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