Dust and Ashes Allusion in “To His Coy Mistress”
“And your quaint honor turn to dust / and into ashes all my lust” (Marvell 29-30). “Ashes” and “dust” are an allusion to “The Order for the Burial of the Dead”. The prayer is as follows: “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed: we therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust...” (Booty 310). The repetition of each word signifies a beginning and an end, starting from earth and ending as earth, starting from ashes and ending as ashes, starting from dust and ending as dust. Marvell uses “dust” and “ashes” in his argument to his mistress to convey the idea of death. He recognizes that all humans will eventually return to dust and ashes, and reminds his mistress of this truth.
“The grave's a fine and private place” (31). This line shows that Marvell means death when he mentions dust and ashes, which correlates strongly with the prayer. The prayer is all about death, and uses dust and ashes as a description of death. In the context that Marvell is using “dust” and “ashes” and the meaning that he is trying to convey to his mistress, there is almost no doubt that he is making an allusion specifically to this prayer and nothing else.
Marvell omits the meaning of the second half of the prayer, which continues, “in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life”. Marvell is not trying to convince his mistress that she will be resurrected, but that she will die and her noble efforts will be turned to dust.
290
Works Consulted
Booty, John. The Book of Common Prayer, 1559. U of Virginia P, 1976.
Margoliouth, H. M.. The Poems and Letters of Andrew Marvell. Vol 1. Oxford U P, 1927.
