Andrew Marvell and Annie Finch: Different Views on Time and Modesty
Annie Finch’s poem “Coy Mistress” is a direct response to Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.” “Coy Mistress” serves arguably as an antithetical r
Andrew Marvell and Annie Finch: Different Views on Time and Modesty - by Jessica Carrell Annie Finch’s poem “Coy Mistress” is a direct response to Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.” “Coy Mistress” serves arguably as an antithetical rebuttal to and social critique of Marvell’s carpe diem mentality. While each poet addresses the abstract concept of time, their attitudes towards it are entirely opposite. Marvell’s poem places a time restriction on love and focuses on the futility of remaining chaste, incorporating deathly imagery and suggestions of intercourse. By contrast, Finch’s speaker is strongly reserved and clearly refutes Marvell’s attempted rhetorical seduction by insisting on the enduring power of poetry. Despite the poems’ key differences, each poet’s attitudes towards the gendered performance of coyness prove deeply ironic. Marvell advocates sexual promiscuity at a cultural moment that emphasized female chastity, while Finch supports modesty at a moment that premarita…