To His Coy Mistress To His Coy Mistress "To His Coy Mistress" is a metaphysical poem written by the English author and politician Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) either during or just before the English Interregnum (1649–60). It was published posthumously in 1681. This poem is considered one of Marvell's finest and is possibly the best recognized carpe diem poem in English. Although the date of its composition is not known, it may have been written in the early 1650s. At that time, Marvell was serving as a tutor to the daughter of the retired commander of the New Model Army, Sir Thomas Fairfax. The speaker
Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets of the English Poets", affords a striking instance of caprice in the matter of admission to literary honours”, he charged. To Scott the choice of poets seemed lacking in either method or “rational impartial criticism” (p.247). In the same year appeared the new edition of "Poems by the Most Eminent Ladies of Great Britain and Ireland…with considerable alterations, additions and improvements". It has been conjectured, as mentioned above, that a reissue of the work thirty years after its first publication was a response to the omission of any female poets from the recent collection. The 1785 editor does not say