Andrew Marvell
Overview
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
metaphysical poet
Metaphysical poets
The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterized by inventiveness of metaphor...
, Parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
, and the son of a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman (also named Andrew Marvell). As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
and George Herbert
George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest.Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in...
. He was a colleague and friend of John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
.
Marvell was born in Winestead-in-Holderness
Winestead
Winestead is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately south east of the town of Hedon and north west of the village of Patrington. It lies to the north of the A1033 road...
, East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...
, near the city of Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. The family moved to Hull when his father was appointed Lecturer at Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church, Hull
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican parish church in the centre of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.-History:It is the largest parish church in England when floor area is the measurement for comparison...
there, and Marvell was educated at Hull Grammar School
Hull Grammar School
Hull Grammar School was an independent secondary school in Hull, England, founded in 1486 by Dr. John Alcock. The school merged with Hull High School to form Hull Collegiate School in 2005.- History :The seventeenth oldest independent school in the U.K...
. A secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in the city is now named after him.
His most famous poems include To His Coy Mistress
To His Coy Mistress
To His Coy Mistress is a metaphysical poem written by the British author and statesman Andrew Marvell either during or just before the Interregnum....
, The Garden
The Garden (poem)
"The Garden", by Andrew Marvell, is one of the most famous English poems of the seventeenth century. "In his poem called 'The Garden'", H.C. Beeching noted over a century ago, "Marvell has sung a palinode that for richness of phrasing in its sheer sensual love of garden delights is perhaps...
, An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's Return from Ireland, The Mower's Song
The Mower's Song
The Mower's Song is a pastoral poem by English poet Andrew Marvell, published posthumously in 1681. The work is the last of a series of four poems by Marvell known as the Mower poems...
and the country house poem
Country house poem
A country house poem is a poem in which the author compliments a wealthy patron or a friend through a description of his country house. Such poems were popular in early 17th century England...
Upon Appleton House
Upon Appleton House
Upon Appleton House is a poem written by Andrew Marvell for Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. It was written in 1651, when Marvell was working as a tutor for Fairfax's daughter, Mary...
.
At the age of twelve, Marvell attended Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
and eventually received his BA degree.
Discussions
Quotations
Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.
The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers
She with her eyes my heart does bind, She with her voice might captivate my mind.
The Fair Singer
How should I avoid to be her slave, Whose subtle art invisibly can wreath My fetters of the very air I breath?
The Fair Singer
While thus he threw his Elbow round, Depopulating all the Ground, And, with his whistling Sythe, does cut Each stroke between the Earth and Root, The edged Stele by careless chance Did into his own Ankle glance; And there among the Grass fell down, by his own Sythe, the Mower mown.
Damon The Mower
The world in all doth but two nations bear —The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.
The Loyal Scot (1650-1652)
No creature loves an empty space;Their bodies measure out their place.
Upon Appleton House, to My Lord Fairfax
To make a bank was a great plot of state;Invent a shovel, and be a magistrate.
The Character of Holland (c. 1653).
This indigested vomit of the Sea,Fell to the Dutch by Just Propriety.
The Character of Holland (c. 1653).
The inglorious arts of peace.