Imagery and metaphors

For you to better understand the poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, we will present the way imagery and metaphors are employed in the poem. We will also focus on other stylistic devices and figures of speech.

Metaphors

As you have seen, the poem abounds in metaphors. The first metaphor is that of the Lady’s coyness being a crime:

“Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime .” (ll. 1-2)

The second stanza brings out other interesting metaphors. One is that of the “time’s winged chariot”. The metaphor immediately makes the reader think about Greek mythology, where the chariot is associated with the god Apollo. The chariot is a metaphor for the unstoppable passage of time:

“But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;” (ll. 21-22)

Stanza 2 also presents the metaphor of the grave. The “vault” symbolises something that can never be opened, the definitive death of love:

“Nor, in thy marb...