The tone of "To his Coy Mistress" is more whimsical than serious. Given this tone, what do you see as the purpose of Marvell's use of hyperbole?

Explained Below

Explanation:

In Poetry, Hyperbole is a literary device. It is a mode of over-exaggeration in order to emphasize on the subject or make it humorous. The tone is whimsical which means it's not be taken literally. The use of hyperbole in poems is the imagination of poet which is beyond the general convictions and that is intended to make it more interesting.

Andrew Marvell's poem "To his Coy Mistress" uses many hyperbole to enrich it with literary merits. Marvell employs syllogistic flattery and reality in the poem so as to address his mistress with a love beyond the limitations of time.

He says:

"Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime"

The emphasis on the fragility of life and the fleeting nature of time are reflected in these lines with a whimsical tone.

"A hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast;

But thirty thousand to the rest"

Marvell insists that it requires a hundred years in order to adore her eyes and forehead. Now, such an exaggerated mode of writing is a key example of Hyperbole which is fanciful as well as appealing to the reader. The mention of 100, 200 and 30 thousand long years lifts the mood of the poem. Marvell talks about the beauty of his lover that can not be measured in time.

Hence, such method of writing creates a happy tone of the poem which the readers love to read.  

reading poetry is challenging when you don't have or very little of social context and culture schema.

solution: read the introduction, the norm, or even explaination if you still dont get it.