Andrew Marvell

Ametas and Thestylis

Ametas.
Think'st Thou that this Love can stand,
Whilst Thou still dost say me nay?
Love unpaid does soon disband:

Reciprocal binding

Hay-making requires two people twisting in opposite directions to create tension. His metaphor accidentally proves her point—love needs resistance to work.

Love binds Love as Hay binds Hay.
II.
Thestylis.
Think'st Thou that this Rope would twine

Rope-making physics

She's correct about rope mechanics: two strands turning the same direction create slack, not tension. Her technical knowledge undermines his seduction.

Rope-making physics

She's correct about rope mechanics: two strands turning the same direction create slack, not tension. Her technical knowledge undermines his seduction.

If we both should turn one way?
Where both parties so combine,
Neither Love will twist nor Hay.
III.
Ametas.
Thus you vain Excuses find,
Which your selve and us delay:
And Love tyes a Womans Mind
Looser then with Ropes of Hay.

Gender accusation

He abandons the metaphor to make a direct claim about female inconstancy—a retreat from logic to stereotype when his argument fails.

IV.
Thestylis.
What you cannot constant hope

Conditional surrender

She doesn't promise love, just availability. 'As you may' means 'when you can get it'—she's offering a hookup, not commitment.

Must be taken as you may.
V.
Ametas.
Then let's both lay by our Rope,

Metaphor abandoned

He drops the rope argument entirely. 'Lay by' means set aside—he's literally saying 'forget the debate, let's just make out.'

Metaphor abandoned

He drops the rope argument entirely. 'Lay by' means set aside—he's literally saying 'forget the debate, let's just make out.'

And go kiss within the Hay.
Ametas.
Think'st Thou that this Love can stand,
Whilst Thou still dost say me nay?
Love unpaid does soon disband:
Love binds Love as Hay binds Hay.

Reciprocal binding

Hay-making requires two people twisting in opposite directions to create tension. His metaphor accidentally proves her point—love needs resistance to work.

Thestylis.

Rope-making physics

She's correct about rope mechanics: two strands turning the same direction create slack, not tension. Her technical knowledge undermines his seduction.

Think'st Thou that this Rope would twine
If we both should turn one way?

Rope-making physics

She's correct about rope mechanics: two strands turning the same direction create slack, not tension. Her technical knowledge undermines his seduction.

Where both parties so combine,
Neither Love will twist nor Hay.
Ametas.
Thus you vain Excuses find,
Which your selve and us delay:
And Love tyes a Womans Mind

Gender accusation

He abandons the metaphor to make a direct claim about female inconstancy—a retreat from logic to stereotype when his argument fails.

Looser then with Ropes of Hay.
Thestylis.
What you cannot constant hope
Must be taken as you may.

Conditional surrender

She doesn't promise love, just availability. 'As you may' means 'when you can get it'—she's offering a hookup, not commitment.

Ametas.

Metaphor abandoned

He drops the rope argument entirely. 'Lay by' means set aside—he's literally saying 'forget the debate, let's just make out.'

Then let's both lay by our Rope,
And go kiss within the Hay.

Metaphor abandoned

He drops the rope argument entirely. 'Lay by' means set aside—he's literally saying 'forget the debate, let's just make out.'

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Debate Structure

This is a pastoral dialogue—a debate poem set among shepherds, a popular 17th-century form borrowed from classical poetry. CONTEXT Marvell wrote this during the 1650s, likely as a country-house entertainment. The names are stock: Ametas and Thestylis appear in Virgil's *Eclogues* as typical rustic lovers.

The form is stichomythia—rapid-fire exchange where speakers alternate stanzas. Ametas speaks stanzas I, III, and V. Thestylis gets II and IV. Notice the imbalance: he gets three turns to her two, but she wins on logic.

The extended metaphor is hay-rope making, a common agricultural task. To make rope from hay, two people twist strands in opposite directions, creating tension that binds the fibers. Ametas uses this to argue for reciprocal love ('Love binds Love as Hay binds Hay'). Thestylis uses the same metaphor to argue the opposite: if both turn the same way, you get slack, not rope. She's saying pursuit, not mutual surrender, creates romantic tension.

The poem's meter is iambic tetrameter (four beats per line) with AABB rhyme—simple, song-like, rustic. This isn't philosophical poetry; it's folk argument dressed in pastoral costume.

Who Wins the Argument

Watch how the logic collapses. Ametas claims unrequited love 'does soon disband'—if she won't love him back, he'll quit. But this is a threat that undermines itself: if love is so fragile, why should she invest in it?

Thestylis counters with actual physics: ropes require counter-rotation. Her metaphor is technically accurate. His response in stanza III abandons the rope metaphor entirely and pivots to misogyny: 'Love tyes a Womans Mind / Looser then with Ropes of Hay.' When he can't win on logic, he claims women are inconstant by nature.

Her final stanza is devastating: 'What you cannot constant hope / Must be taken as you may.' Translation: *You just admitted love doesn't last, so take what you can get.* She's turned his own argument against him—if love is temporary, why resist a temporary encounter?

Ametas's last move is pure pragmatism: 'let's both lay by our Rope, / And go kiss within the Hay.' He's dropping the entire debate. The word 'lay by' means set aside or abandon. The poem ends mid-seduction, unresolved—we don't know if she agrees.

The doubling of the text (the poem repeats in full) might indicate this was performed as a song with repeated verses, or it could be a printing error. Either way, the repetition emphasizes the circular, unresolved nature of the argument.