Andrew Marvell (1621–78) was an English poet, satirist, and politician. He is now considered one of the best Metaphysical poets.
Born in Winestead, Yorkshire, the son of a clergyman, Marvell was Cambridge-educated. He became assistant to the poet John Milton and got elected as the Member of Parliament for Hull in 1659.
In his lifetime, Marvell was well known for his scornful satires on corruption and mismanagement in the court of King Charles II. Today, Marvell is remembered for his small body of poems, eclectic but lyrical, and delighting in nature. His poems were first recommended in the 19th century by the essayist and poet Charles Lamb and later reappraised with the work of other metaphysical poets such as John Donne.
Marvell’s posthumous compilation Miscellaneous Poems (1681) included “The Garden,” “The Garden,” “The Definition of Love,” “Bermudas,” and “To His Coy Mistress.” The latter is his best-known poem, in which the anxious poet urges his mistress to forsake her false modesty and accept his embraces before time and death deprive them of the chance to love.
A subsequent volume of Marvell’s poems was entitled Poems on Affairs of State (1689–97.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Andrew Marvell
Music, the mosaic of the air.
—Andrew Marvell
Topics: Music, One liners
The grave’s a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.
—Andrew Marvell
Topics: Dying, Death
I am too conscious of mine own imperfections to rake into and dilate upon the failings of other men; and though I carry always some ill-nature about me, yet it is, I hope, no more than is in this world necessary for a preservative.
—Andrew Marvell
Self-preservation, nature’s first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe.
—Andrew Marvell
Topics: Survival
Two Paradises t’were in one, to live in Paradise alone.
—Andrew Marvell
Topics: Solitude
But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near.
—Andrew Marvell
Topics: Time Management, Adversity, Time
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