To His Coy Mistress

"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."
In To His Coy Mistress, the poet uses scare tactics in order to terrify his love into submission. He seems to have an agenda as he appeals to her with a idyllic world, a world one might consider unattainable. Moreover, he stresses the urgency of time and alludes to Time constantly running out. Marvell's tone shifts throughout the poem from positive to negative. However, overall his tone seems to be somberly whimsical. Indeed, the poet has not the time to play the games of love- for in this reality, time is limited and her old-fashioned charm and coyness is one of waste in his eyes. In the end, we're restricted, all human beings die, so the question remains..are you going to let your virginity go to waste with the worms or have sex with me? I guess we'll never know what his coy mistress choose but let's hope she did carpe diem.