To His Coy Mistress

To His Coy Mistress

The poem, To His Coy Mistress, is poem where a man is attempting to seduce a lovely young lady.   This Poem is set back in the 1600’s. In this essay I will attempt to explain the overall tone of the poem and the tone of each stanza.
This poem changes tones several times. In the first stanza the tone is very juvenile. It is much like that of a young adolescent male or even a young male in his early twenties.
The poem changes tones in the second stanza.   In the second stanza the tone becomes more serious. The tone is very depressing and dark. The tone of the third stanza changes from the dark melancholy state to more of an in between not so much of the juvenile tone that you find in the first stanza; but not quite the dark depressing tone that is the second stanza.
At the beginning of the poem the young man (I presume he is young) is speaking with a young maiden. Speaking of her beauty and how he will spend twice as much time on her breasts than any where else on her body.   He is flattering her to the point of way over exaggeration.   The tone of this stanza   of the poem is very bold and in sincere. For example, in line fifteen of the poem “two hundred to each breasts”.
However, the tone of the poem changes to very sincere and depressing almost in the next stanza when the poet starts talking about death.   “My echoing song; then worms shall try”   “And your quaint honor turned to dust, and into ashes all my lust.”   These lines 27,29,30 in the second stanza is where the overall tone of the poem changes and the harsh reality of death is spoken.
The tone of the poem changes yet a third time.   In the last stanza of To His Coy Mistress, the tone changes to more of a lustful tone.   The poet is stating that since time is short they should act on their sexual desires.
However, it is not likely that the young man is wearing a smile.   It is quite obvious that the tone of the second stanza is no longer the same.   “Our sweetness up into one ball,...