“To His Coy Mistress” is a sublime example of a carpe diem poem, a Latin phrase meaning “seize the day.” This poem is to the genre what the lion is to the animal kingdom or the oak to the vegetable kingdom: the top. Robert Herrick’s “Gather Ye Rosebuds” is superbly lyrical but lacks this poem’s depth. Ben Jonson’s “Come, my Celia” is perfect in form and music but does not have the same vitality. Edmund Waller’s “Go, Lovely Rose” exquisitely exploits the use of a single image but does not have the intensity of Marvell’s poem.