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 pocket volumes, on a fine writing paper, ornamented with the heads of the respective authors, engraved by the most eminent artists”. Johnson was slow to put pen to paper, although on 3 May 1777 he wrote to Boswell that he was busy preparing "little Lives and little Prefaces, to a little edition of the English Poets". When asked later by Boswell whether he would do this for “any dunce’s works, if they should ask him,” Johnson replied, “Yes, sir; and "say" he was a dunce.” However, while so engaged, he made a few suggestions of his own for inclusion, including