Coy Mistress 2.28

1.     What is the speaker urging his sweetheart to do? Why is she coy?

a.     He wants them to sleep together while they are young, but she hesitates as it would mean the loss of her virginity,

2.     Outline speaker’s argument? Is it valid?

a.     Three parts to his argument, he says she can deny his love indefinitely, but they will grow old and unable to be together forever, and finally they should enjoy their time when they are young and full of vigor. I agree with the speaker because neither beauty nor life lasts forever, so it is best to use them to their fullest while they’re available.

3.     Vegetable love appropriate? What simile contrasts with it?

a.     The speaker is saying he would love her steadily until it outlasts even empires. In the third section he talks about striking swiftly and being fires in life, unlike the vegetable comparison which is slow.

4.     Explain the figures in lines 22, 24, & 40 and their implications.

a.     22 is essentially saying that time flies faster than most realize, passing many by without a pause.

b.     24 the vast eternity is time stretching out in front of and behind humanity. This implies how an individual’s life is just a grain of sand in a desert of time.
c. In 40 the speaker says they should grab the moment while it lasts.

5.     Explain last two lines. Sun =metonymy for what?

a.     The sun is a way humans mark the passage of time, so it has become associated with how time passes. The man tells his mistress though they can’t make time stand still for them, they can enjoy every moment so thoroughly that time will seem to pass more quickly.

6.     Poem about love or time?

a.     The poem, although presented as a seduction piece, is more focused on time and it’s passage. The speaker is arguing that they should seize the moment and their actions their lives.