Structuralist and Feminist Perspective of Andrew Marvell’s "To His Coy Mistress" 

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress' is a metaphysical, carpe diem poem that dates to the mid-17th century. It's also a poem of seduction, in which the speaker tries to convince her mistress to make love with him.. “To his Coy mistress” by Andrew Marvell can be utilized through structuralism and feminist lens.

Structuralism is concerned with structures, “have to seen in the context of the larger structure they are part of” (Barry, 2013, p.48). It studies the technique, procedure, construction and language in text; to show how literary devices produce aesthetic effects like rhyme, rhythmic pattern, arrangement of words, repetition of sound etc. According to Tyson (2006), Structuralists “describe the structure of a single literary work to discover how its composition demonstrates the underlying principles of a given structural system.” Ferdinand de Saussure was the one who developed the structural linguistics. He used the term “langue” meaning the system of language and “parole” meaning a particular unit in a language. Strauss and Barthes have given a new direction to structuralism and followed Saussurian principle of binary opposition. Guerin et al. (2005) noted that structuralism utilizes a close reading of the text that examines structure, shape, interplay, interrelationships, denotation and connotations, contexts, images, symbols, repeated details, dramatic structure, balances and tensions, rhythms and rhymes, sounds, voice, specific words and lines, irony, paradox, point of view, theme, etc. to discover what “contributes to the uniqueness of the work” and creates its meaning. Meaning emerges from the text itself, not from any kind of background or outside information. Now, for a structuralist interpretation of Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress', this paper focuses on the structure of the poem itself; e.g., the title, syllogistic pattern, style, diction, figurative devices like hyperbole, metaphysical conceit and wit, simile, metaphor, personification, imagery etc.

“To His Coy Mistress” is a dramatic monologue meaning a poem in which a single character addresses a silent listener.The structure of the poem is 3 uneven stanzas of 20, 12 and 14 lines. The metric pattern of the poem is iambic tetrameter with 8 syllables in each line. Each foot consists of a syllable without stress followed by a syllable with stress. For instance, sits on/ thy skin/ like mour/ ing dew. Though the rhyme schemes follow a simple couplet pattern like aa, bb, cc and so on, two couplets use slant to irregular rhyme. For example, lines 27 and 28 represent irregularity: 'try/virginity'.. The poem is less formal sounding and more like a conversation. It reads normal and smoothly.

“To his Coy Mistress” is structured with so many binary oppositions like male/female, subject/object, consumer/consumed, life/death and present/non- present. There are differences in a language without fixed term. Structuralists use the term langue and parole. The langue which relates to parole “To his Coy Mistress” is the notion of a poetry as a genre, as a body of literary practice.

The poem is written in the form of what is known as a syllogism. A syllogism is an argument developed in a strictly logical form and leads a definite conclusion. A syllogistic argument consists of these stages and each stage begins with three words, “If”, “But”, and “Therefore”. In this poem, we find three clearly marked sections. The first section begins with “If”: “Had we but world enough, and time.” The first word of this sentence, “Had” conveys the sense of “If” and the sentence means the speaker imagined that they had enough world and time. The second section of the poem begins with “But”: “But at my back I always hear.” Here, the speaker said that in fact, life is not eternal. And the third section begins with “Therefore”: “Now therefore, while the youthful hue.” The speaker convinces the mistress to seize the time and make love with him. Thus, in the first section the poem states a condition and in the second section the reasons were given why this condition cannot be fulfilled and finally the arguments end in a conclusion. The conclusion that Marvell draws in the poem supports the 'carpe diem' theme that one should seize the opportunity.

The poem uses a number of metaphysical conceits and wit. On the line 11 and 12, the speaker says that if they don’t interfere in physical union, their love is tasteless. Another metaphysical conceit is presented on the line 27 and 28 where the woman’s lying in the grave where the worms are shown to have the power of seducing a woman. The poem has been established as a metaphysical poem by the great use of words, wit and personal emotion.

The poet’s use of metaphor and simile is remarkable. ‘Like amorous birds of prey' indicates speakers desire to his mistress in lovemaking. The use of like or as is considered as simile. On the other hand, the poem uses metaphor comparing his love to a vegetable. His love grows steadily just like the vegetables.

Personification is also found in this poem. Time is personified with winged chariot. Time is not a human and does not have a chariot.

In the poem the poet uses imagery. The image of “winged chariot” represents time flies quickly. The imagery of ‘birds of prey’ and ‘rough strife’ focuses self-destructiveness. The image of ‘iron gates of life’ presents the cruel reality of the world and life.

Irony is also noticed in the poem. For example:

“That long-preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust;

The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace”. 

The speaker tells the mistress that time will turn her honor to dust and her lust to ashes. He also threats the mistress if she doesn’t seize the time to have fun, she will regret once she dies. Andrew Marvell shows the best aesthetic qualities in “To his Coy Mistress”.

In the most general terms, feminism “is concerned with the marginalization of all women: that is, with their being relegated to a secondary position” in a male-dominated society”. It contains political and social aspects, a fact that differentiates this approach from many other critical approaches. More specifically, “feminist critics generally agree that their goals are to expose patriarchal premises and resulting prejudices, to promote discovery and reevaluation of literature by women, and to examine social, cultural, and psychosexual contexts of literature and literary criticism. Feminist critics therefore study sexual, social, and political issues once thought to be ‘outside’ the study of literature” (Guerin et al. 2005). Feminism is the radical notion that women are people. This form of literary critical analysis emerged in the late 1970s. The feminist literary criticism of today is the direct product of the 'women's movement' of the 1960s. This movement was literary from the start, in the sense that it realized the significance of the images of women promulgated by literature, and saw it as vital to combat them and question their authority. Critical attention was given to books by male writers in which influential or typical images of women were constructed. Most feminists saw language and literature as a means for male domination. 

The content of the poem “To his Coy Mistress” is nothing but the reflection of men’s psychology which represents social notions of patriarchy. This patriarchal ideology is discussed at various levels, such as the images of women promulgated in literature, women’s socialization, and exploration of the identity of women etc. All Feminist critics fight against the identity formation of woman. The poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is an example of gender discrimination and the patriarchal notion that imposes on women certain gender rules. The poem is structured into three parts, and each part builds up his frustration and the poet soon becomes restless with lust. Marvell begins the poem in a manner of courtly love. He tries to win over her in the Petrarchan style. Throughout the whole poem, the speaker shows to women to be desirable first and then disgusting, but in the end it is the female body itself that becomes to him a repulsive symbol of the death and decay to which all eventually descend.

The first two lines of the poem state “Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime.” Here, her coyness is interpreted as her powerlessness to speak in the society. The representation of the lady in this poem is purely patriarchal. It is competent enough for giving her both sexual and social completeness. Male superiority is expressed by the concept of “vegetable love” a reference to his penis and fertility and woman is just a medium in the process, a fertile land.

The mistress represents an object of prey. The speaker considers her as “his” property. Here in the poem speaker says that he is ready to adore her many years rather ages on each body parts of the Lady. The speaker sees beauty in physical objects of women. He would praise her eyes, breast and her each body part for ages like beautiful objects of a doll. A beauty of a woman cannot be restricted to her physical look but this kind of representation is made by supporter of patriarchal notions and ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is the reflection of these notions.

With the beginning of stanza II, frustrating tone starts to prevail and language becomes more aggressive. Speaker shows disgust with the female body and compares it with death and decay. The whole idea of worms breaking a lady's long preserved virginity is simply demeaning. The speaker tells that the worms will be the one who admire her virginity once she dies.

'... then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity:

And your quaint honor turn to dust,' 

Rather than uphold the value of her virginity, he mocks it as 'quaint honor', which is a direct reference to female genitals. She is compared to ‘winged chariot’, and ‘Marble vault’ which represents her not, not his. The speaker thinks there is no use of this preserved virginity after death. Even after her death, he frightens that her flesh would be eaten by worm or insect in the Marble vault. In spite of knowing that, he wants to make love with her.

He calls the love making a “sport” which refers that it is a fun activity for him. He relates how they will be together “like amorous birds of prey'; an image of sexual consumption. “Iron gates of life” represents her ability to reproduce and give him a child. In the end couplet- “Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run.” He admits that he cannot stay with her forever but he would love her to make each moment of their togetherness look like eternity.

To sum up, when it comes to “To his Coy Mistress” poem which inherents from a structuralist perspective or a feminist perspective, I feel structuralist perspective does greater justice to the poem. It helps me to think about these theories more. From structuralist point of view, it is more subjective and scientific in nature. It is pretty straightforward to understand the meaning of the text. So the underlying characteristics of the text discover its meaning. On the other hand, I feel feminist perspective does not justice to this poem. The poem, is disturbing and offensive to a female reader who tries hard to exist in the male-dominated world of texts. The mistress is treated as an object in the society. She is exploited through the cultural, political notions. ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is an example of cultural, political and psychological exploitation of the Lady. Also the mistress remains silent throughout the poem. I think she should raise her voice at this situation.

Works Cited:

• Barry, Peter. 'Feminist Criticism' Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory' (Viva Books Private Limited, 2013): 116-117. Print
• Deo,K.S.(2018). A feminist reading of Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 7, 45-47. Retrieved from http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/vol7 (12)/Ver-2/E0712024547
• Guerin, W. L. (Ed.). (2005). A handbook of critical approaches to literature. Oxford University Press, USA.
• https://www.academia.edu/25200325/A_feminist_critique_of_andrew_marvells_poetry
• Ruman, Abdul Karim. (2014). Formalist Interpretation of Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'. Bangladesh Research Foundation Journal (ISSN 2224-8404). 3. 1-7.
• Tyson, L. (2014). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. Routledge.