The shortness of life is a common literary theme used to spark motivation into audiences, but Andrew Marvell utilizes it in a slightly different way. In To His Coy Mistress, Marvell writes to a woman and explains how short life really is. Marvell idealizes life without a sense of urgency and how much could be accomplished, but shifts into reality where life is short and death is imminent. This sharp shift leads Marvell into his primary purpose: to bed the mistress. Through contrasting romantic and morbid imagery, Marvell intertwines the concepts of time, death, to convince a woman to become intimate with him. Marvell utilizes the first stanza to detail the activities he would partake in if time were no object, and incorporates romantic imagery. Marvell explains that if he had the time, the lady's shy manner would not be an issue (line 2). He and his lady could sit and simply think of where to go, and idly pass the days by (lines 3-4). Marvell furthers his description by imagining the endeavors one could pursue without the matter of time. Visualizing these pursuits, Marvell envisions himself and his lady alongside the Ganges River in India (line 5). At the writing of this poem England had just begun to explore the far parts of the world, making the Ganges even more exotic and elusive than today. To a woman in Marvell's day, the idea of sitting alongside the Ganges finding rubies together would be a deeply romantic and intimate event. Furthermore, rubies were once symbolic of one's virginity, showing Marvell's intentions. Marvell continues with Biblical references, romantically comparing his love for her as everlasting. To explain the length of his love, Marvell equates it to loving her for 10 years prior to the flood in Genesis, and to the conversion of Jews. Supposedly, at the end of time Jews will be converted, so Marvell explains that he would love her from the beginning of time until the end of the world (lines 7-10). Marvell utiliz