Summary:The poem is spoken by a male lover to his female beloved as an attempt to convince her to sleep with him. The speaker argues that the Lady's shyness and hesitancy would be acceptable if the two had "world enough, and time." But because they are finite [`fa?na?t] skoñczony human beings, he thinks they should take advantage of their sensual embodiment while it lasts.He tells the lady that her beauty, as well as her "long-preserved virginity," will only become food for worms unless she gives herself to him while she lives. Rather than preserve any lofty [`loft?] podnios³y, ideals of chastity and virtue, the speaker affirms, the lovers ought to "roll all our strength, and all / Our sweetness, up into one ball." He is alluding [?'lud] vi robiæ aluzjê to their physical bodies coming together in the act of lovemaking.Analysis:Marvell wrote this poem in the classical tradition of a Latin love elegy (a poem of lamentation), in which the speaker praises his mistress or lover through the motif of carpe diem, or "seize the day." The poem also reflects the tradition of the erotic blazon [`ble?zn] (A hymn of praise to female beauty), in which a poet constructs elaborate images of his lover's beauty by carving her body into parts. Its verse form consists of rhymed couplets [`k?pl?t] dwuwiersz in iambic tetrameter, proceeding as AA, BB, CC, and so forth.The speaker begins by constructing a thorough and elaborate conceit [k?n`si:t] koncept of the many things he "would" do to honour the lady properly, if the two lovers indeed had enough time. He posits [`poz?t] postulowaæ, zak³adaæ, impossible stretches of time during which the two might play games of courtship [`ko:t??p] zaloty . He claims he could love her from ten years before the Biblical flood narrated in the Book of Genesis, while the Lady could refuse his advances up until the "conversion of the Jews," which refers to the day of Christian judgement prophesied for the end of times in the New Testament's Book of Revelations.The speaker then uses the metaphor of a "vegetable love" to suggest a slow and steady growth that might increase to vast proportions, perhaps encoding [?n'k??d] zaszyfrowywaæ a phallic [`fæl?k] anat. dotycz¹cy pr¹cia suggestion. This would allow him to praise his lady's features - eyes, forehead, breasts, and heart - in increments ['?nkr?m?nt] przysporzenie of hundreds and even thousands of years, which he says that the lady clearly deserves due to her superior [stature[stæt??(r)] postura. He assures the Lady that he would never value her at a "lower rate" than she deserves, at least in an ideal world where time is unlimited.Marvell praises the lady's beauty by complimenting her individual features using a device called an erotic blazon, which also evokes [?'v??k] vt wywo³ywaæ the influential techniques of 15th and 16th century Petrarchan love poetry. Petrarchan poetry is based upon rarefying and distancing the female beloved, making her into an unattainable [?n?`te?n?bl] nieosi¹galny object. In this poem, though, the speaker only uses these devices to suggest that distancing himself from his lover is mindless, because they do not have the limitless time necessary for the speaker to praise the Lady sufficiently. He therefore constructs an erotic blazon only to assert its futility [fju't?l?t?] n daremnoœæ;.The poem's mood shifts in line 21, when the speaker asserts [?`s?:t] stwierdzaæ, zapewniaæ that "Time's winged /w??d/ skrzydlaty chariot [`t?ær??t] rydwan" is always near. The speaker's rhetoric changes from an acknowledgement of the Lady's limitless virtue to insisting on the radical limitations of their time as embodied beings. Once dead, he assures the Lady, her virtues and her beauty will lie in the grave along with her body as it turns to dust. Likewise, the speaker imagines his lust being reduced to ashes, while the chance for the two lovers to join sexually will be lost forever.The third and final section of the poem shifts into an all-out [??l'??t] totany plea [pli] b³aganie, ~usilna proœba; apel; and display of poetic prowess [`prau?s] bieg³oœæ, in which the speaker attempts to win over the Lady. He compares the Lady's skin to a vibrant layer of morning dew that is animated by the fires of her soul and encourages her to "sport" with him "while we may." Time devours [d?`vau?(r)] poch³aniaæ all things, the speaker acknowledges, but he nonetheless asserts that the two of them can, in fact, turn the tables on time. They can become "amorous birds of prey" [prei] zdobycz that actively consume the time they have through passionate lovemaking.
