His Coy Mistress Tone

When reading a poem, the tone can be misleading at first glance. Many poems might seem charming at first, but upon further inspection are actually unpleasant. The poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell is an example of this. In the poem, the narrator expresses his feelings to a woman and attempts to convince her to give up her virginity to him. In the first stanza of the poem, he begins by complimenting her and proclaiming how he will love her forever. However, as the poem continues, the narrator appears to care more about taking advantage of her than her personality. The narrator's tone in the poem “To His Coy Mistress” is deceitful and manipulative as he tries to persuade a woman into engaging in sexual activities with him.

The first stanza of this poem seems sincere as the narrator gives the woman many compliments, but his statements are meant to lead her astray. In the first stanza of this poem, the narrator
He tells her, “Now let us sport us while we may,/ And now, like amorous birds of prey,/ Rather at once our time devour/ Than languish in his slow-chapped power” (37-40). Comparing their love to birds of prey gives the poem a much more manipulative tone, because the author could have compared their love to a beautiful summer day or the stars in the sky. Birds of prey can be pretty violent when mating, so the comparison makes his intentions seem like he’s trying to take advantage of her. Then, the narrator chooses to use the word devour which seems much more brutal and intimidating than other words he could have used, like consume or eat. The narrator continues to describe how their love would be, but it comes off a little scary the way he words it: “And tear our pleasures with rough strife/ Through the iron gates of life;” (43-44). By using the phrase “rough strife” to talk about their love, he does not seem gentle or