The poetry of Andrew Marvell

Andrew Marvell (1621-78) was a fascinating character who does not fit easily in any pigeonhole, whether artistic or political. He lived in very interesting times, namely throughout the period of the English Civil War, Commonwealth and Restoration, when it was dangerous to take sides in case one’s choice should turn out to be the wrong one. What Marvell hated most, in political terms, was tyranny, whether that came from kings or their opponents.

In terms of poetry, Marvell is often classified as a “Metaphysical”, but he was fifty years younger than John Donne (the chief of the Metaphysicals) and the style was on its way out when Marvell was writing his poems. In any case, most of his work was unknown during his lifetime, only being published posthumously in 1681.

His best poems were written during the 1650s (during the Commonwealth period when Oliver Cromwell ruled as “Lord Protector”). What has been described (by the Oxford Companion to English Literature) as “perhaps the greatest political poem in English” is his “An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland”, which offers a balanced appreciation of Cromwell at a time when a one-sided one might have been thought a safer bet.

For example, the poem contains the oft-quoted lines referring to the execution of King Charles that: “He nothing common did or mean / Upon that memorable scene”, and give a warning to the new leaders that: “The same arts that gain / A pow’r must it maintain.” Both Cromwell and Charles are seen in a context of divine justice and order that are working themselves out, so Marvell is thus able to be fair to them both.

However, the tone in his later “The First Anniversary of the Government under O. C.” is less balanced, with the praise of Cromwell being louder and clearer. Marvell became the unofficial laureate to Cromwell and took the post of Latin Secretary to the Council of State which had previously been occupied by the now blind John Milton. However, he also provided services to the restored monarchy of Charles II and served as a Member of Parliament from Cromwell’s death until his own.

The same poet who could sing the praises of the ultra-Puritan Oliver Cromwell could also write the poem for which he is best known, namely “To His Coy Mistress”, which is nothing short of an expression of animal passion in the hope of getting a young woman into bed:

“Let us roll all our strength, and all

Our sweetness, up into one ball:

And tear our pleasures with rough strife,

Thorough the iron gates of life.”

This is a beautifully comic poem that uses a series of exaggerations to poke fun at the young woman’s coyness when it is clear that they both desire the final outcome. It works as well today as it did when first composed. Granted, this poem was not known to Marvell’s contemporaries, although it had probably been written not long before his “Horatian Ode”.

Marvell does offer a metaphysical approach in some of his poems, in that he can take a minor observation and develop a complex moral or philosophical lesson from it. An example of this is “On a Drop of Dew” in which an accurate description of a dewdrop on a rose is transformed into a symbol of the soul’s relationship to Heaven and Earth. The wit is integral to the poem and bound both to its accuracy, as observation, and its moral purpose.

As a satirist, Marvell is somewhat less successful to modern readers, mainly because satire is only really effective when one know the object of the satire and can appreciate all the “in jokes” that would have been relevant at the time. However, his early satire, “Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome”, while cruel, is also witty. On the other hand, his much later “The Last Instructions to a Painter” merely follows the popular fashion of commenting on contemporary affairs in the form of advice to a painter on what to paint and how to do so, with not much originality of his own.

Modern readers would do best to stick to Marvell’s lyrical poems, which have a lightness of touch that still appeals. His metaphysical poems are also still readable, as they go beyond merely being clever with words and contain both beauty and tenderness. Anyone who has enjoyed “To His Coy Mistress” will find a further exploration of Marvell’s poetry to be well worth the trouble.

© John Welford