Andrew Marvell: Poems

To his Coy Mistress

To what does Marvell compare time?

Find an example of hyperbole.

What impact does Marvell's use of hyperbole have on the reader's interpretation?

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He compares Time to an entity which flies a "chariot." (But at my back I always hear/Time's winged chariot hurrying near)

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews. These lines are hyperbole (exaggeration) because he is saying that he would wait for her to "give in" until all Jews had converted, presumably to Christianity.

Any time one uses hyperbole, the effect of the exaggeration is that the reader is brought into the point which shows how much the narrator wants the mistress to do as he asks.

Source(s)

"To His Coy Mistress"