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Article: The persuasion of the Coy Mistress.(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Philological Quarterly
- Article date:
- January 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 University of Iowa. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There is general agreement that Andrew Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress" is a carpe diem, invitation-to-love, seduction poem couched in a syllogistic, or seemingly-syllogistic, argument: if we lived forever, your virginity would be appropriate; but we do not live forever, and therefore we should engage in sexual activity. (1) To this point commentators have assumed that the basis on which the speaker persuades the mistress to yield is the physical pleasure of sexual activity. That assumption sets "To his Coy Mistress" apart from Marvell's other poetry in at least two ways. First, it would be the only Marvell poem construed to present a celebration of sexual delight that is ...