Question

Which statement is the correct interpretation of this excerpt from “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell?

Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust

Answer 1

This is not a history question. You'd get better results in Lit. But here's what I got.

The speaker is trying to convince a young woman to have sex with him because at some point in the future she won't be beautiful and nobody will care that she is virtuous and she'll be too old for anybody to want to have sex with her.

It's a con that men still use. The men think that a woman's only value is for sex. This guy only wants her for sex until she gets "too old". Then he'll find another pretty thing to take to bed.