Andrew Marvell’s famous carpe diem poem “To His Coy Mistress” has remained solidly in the American canon for over three hundred years. Over this period of time, many critics have read the poem through a myriad of critical lenses. Despite its prominence in literary tradition, the poem has received little harsh critical response or examination. Though the poem has obvious literary merit and historical significance, I believe that its place in our canon has not been seriously examined throughout the course of changing critical response theories in literature. Though the poem may not necessarily deserve to be eliminated from the canon completely, the ways in which we read and receive the poem is ready to be updated. This dissertation posits that it is time to fully scrutinize “To His Coy Mistress” through a modern lens so that classrooms may both appreciate the poem for its historical and poetic significance while acknowledging the problematic notions of gender and sexuality it perpetuates.
