To his coy mistress... This poem was written in seventeenth century and includes some words, which changed their usage and meaning during 300 years. So first of all I would like to explain what words 'coy' and 'mistress' meant in the period of Metaphysical poetry. When somebody was coy, especially the woman, it meant that she was very shy, reserved and she did not behave in a flirting way. It related in particular in a realm …
showed first 75 words of 1092 total

showed last 75 words of 1092 total
…and conceits of course, which are elaborated witty imagines characteristic for the poetry of the first half of the seventeenth century. Both of the authors were interested in sciences and it reverberates in their poetry (e.g. alchemy in To his coy mistress - the word 'dew' in line 34 was originally 'glew' and it is the term which had a specific meaning in alchemical processes of distillation, or ancient history vide Zeus in Marvell's poem).