Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress," the narrator makes it clear that coyness is a "crime," (line 2). Coyness is a crime because it represents withholding gratification for an indefinite time, when human beings do not have unlimited time. Thus, coyness is akin to a crime against nature. To be coy is to deny the passage of time, to deny death, and to deny the reality of aging. According to the narrator, human beings have but one life to live, and a short one at that. It is important to seize the moment, and not put off happiness in the pursuit of false morals. If human beings were immortal, it would be fine to "sit down and think which way / To walk and pass our long love's day," (lines 3-4). However, human beings are not immortal. Coyness is a lie; it pretends that people, their health, and their...
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