Andrew Marvell (1621 - 1678)

Andrew Marvell (March 31, 1621 - August 16, 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, and the son of an Anglican clergyman. As a metaphysical, he is associated with John Donne, George Herbert, and Ben Jonson. He was the first assistant of John Milton.

After attending Cambridge, Marvell went on the Grand Tour; while England was embroiled in a civil war from 1642 to 1647, Marvell was on the continent. After returning, he worked as tutor to the daughter of Thomas Fairfax, who had recently given command of Parliamentary army to Oliver Cromwell. In 1657, Marvell joined Milton, who by that time had lost his sight, in the post of Latin secretary to Cromwell's Council of State. In 1659 he was elected to Parliament from his hometown of Hull in Yorkshire; in 1660 the monarchy was restored. His political maneuvering must have been skilful, because he not only avoided all punishment for his cooperation with republicanism but helped convince the government of Charles II not to execute Milton for his antimonarchical writings and revolutionary activities. (Marvell also contributed an eloquent prefatory poem to the second edition of Paradise Lost.)

From 1659 until his death, Marvell was a conscientious member of Parliament, answering letters from his constituents and going on two diplomatic missions, one to Holland and the other to Russia. He also wrote prose satires (anonymously, of course) criticizing the monarchy, defending Puritan dissenters, and denouncing censorship.

Famous poems include To His Coy Mistress ( to which T. S. Eliot refers in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock) and The Garden.

The poems are by default sorted according to volume, but you can also choose to sort them alphabetically or by page views.

First Line	Comments
A Poem upon the Death of His Late Highness the Lord Protector
After two sittings, now our Lady State
Alas, how pleasant are their dayes
Ametas
An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return From Ireland
As one put drunk into the Packet-boat,	2 Comments
C.
Cernis ut Eio descendat Gemmula Roris,
Charissimo Filio
Clora come view my Soul, and tell
Come little Infant, Love me now,
Courage my Soul, now learn to wield
Courage my Soul, now learn to wield
Daphnis must from Chloe part:
Dorinda
ENOUGH; and leave the rest to Fame!
Facundis dedit ille notis, interprete plumas
Farfacio.
First was the world as one great cymbal made,
Had we but World enough, and Time,	1 Comment
Haec est quae toties Inimicos Umbra fugavit,
Heark how the Mower Damon Sung,
Holland, that scarce deserves the name of Land,
How vainly men themselves amaze
HOW vainly men themselves amaze
How wisely Nature did decree,
Like the vain curlings of the watery maze,
Like the vain Curlings of the Watry maze,
Luxurious Man, to bring his Vice in use,
My love is of a birth as rare	1 Comment
My Mind was once the true survey
Nature had long a Treasure made
Nec sterilem te crede; Licet, mulieribus exul,
Nempe sic innumero succrescunt agmine libri,
Now does Spains Fleet her spatious wings unfold,
Oblig'd by frequent visits of this man,
On the Victory Obtained by Blake over the Spaniards in the Bay of Santa Cruz, in the Island of Tenerife, 1657
Quid facis Arctoi charissime transfuga coeli,
Quisnam adeo, mortale genus, praecordia versat:
Regibus haec posuit Ludovicus Templa futuris;
SEE how the flowers, as at parade,
See how the Orient Dew,	1 Comment
See with what simplicity
Sir,
Sit further, and make room for thine own fame,
song Fauc1
Soul
That Providence which had so long the care
The forward youth that would appear
The wanton Troopers riding by
To make a final conquest of all me,
To the Lord Fairfax.
Translated.
Verses to accompany a portrait of Cromwell
When for the Thorns with which I long, too long,
When I beheld the Poet blind, yet bold,
Where the remote Bermudas ride
Within this sober Frame expect
Ye living Lamps, by whose dear light
You, that decipher out the Fate