1 Marvell’s pre-Restoration poems(published in 1681)
2 Marvell’s Poems edited by Nigel Smith, 2003To be consulted if you want to answer on Marvell (he wrote a biography too)
3 Andrew Marvell 1621-1678 DO NOT SAY THAT MARVELL IS ELUSIVE! ORAMBIGUOUS Destiny His Choice: The Loyalism of Andrew Marvell J. M. Wallace (1968) Don’t use pre-1990 criticism Marvell, Marvel, Marvelle, Marvil, Marvill, Marvaile, Mervel, Mervell, Mervil, Mervill, Merveil, Merveill, Merveille, Marvin, Marvynn, Mervin.
4 Marvell’s early publicationsa Latin poem in a Cambridge volume to celebrate the birth of Charles 1’s child Anne. He was only 16. an elegy for Francis Villiers, a Royalist soldier killed in battle and son of the Duke of Buckingham in He was 26. a dedicatory verse to Richard Lovelace’s Lucasta in 1649; an elegy for Henry Lord Hastings who had fought for the Royalists at the siege of Colchester and had died of smallpox.
5
6 James Shirley, ‘On a black Ribband’ All Orders have their growth, and this, when sent, To me, had something that was glorious meant, From one, whose blood writes noble, but his mind And souls extraction leave that stream behind: And this who knowes in calmer time may thrive, And grow into a Name, if Arts survive? Til when, to this black Arme-let, it shall be My Honour, to be call’d a Votary. (Shirley, Poems, 52–3)
7 Order of the Black RibandSee Nick McDowell Poetry and Allegiance in the tthe English Civil War (2008)
8 Kensington Palace Garden
9 The Mower Against the Gardens1 Luxurious Man, to bring his Vice in use, 2 Did after him the World seduce: 3 And from the fields the Flow'rs and Plants allure, 4 Where Nature was most plain and pure. 5 He first enclos'd within the Gardens square 6 A dead and standing pool of Air: 7 And a more luscious Earth for them did knead, 8 Which stupifi'd them while it fed. 9 The Pink grew then as double as his Mind; 10 The nutriment did change the kind. 11 With strange perfumes he did the Roses taint. 12 And Flow'rs themselves were taught to paint. 13 The Tulip, white, did for complexion seek; 14 And learn'd to interline its cheek: 15 Its Onion root they then so high did hold, 16 That one was for a Meadow sold. 17 Another World was search'd, through Oceans new, 18 To find the Marvel of Peru .
10
11 Tulip mania—Holland, 1630s 3000 florins’ worth
12 A Definition of Love My Love is of a birth as rare 2 As 'tis for object strange and high: 3 It was begotten by despair 4 Upon Impossibility. II 5 Magnanimous Despair alone. 6 Could show me so divine a thing, 7 Where feeble Hope could ne'r have flown 8 But vainly flapt its Tinsel Wing.
13 9 And yet I quickly might arrive 10 Where my extended Soul is fixt, 11 But Fate does Iron wedges drive, 12 And alwaies crouds it self betwixt. IV 13 For Fate with jealous Eye does see 14 Two perfect Loves; nor lets them close: 15 Their union would her ruine be, 16 And her Tyrannick pow'r depose. V 17 And therefore her Decrees of Steel 18 Us as the distant Poles have plac'd, 19 (Though Loves whole World on us doth wheel) 20 Not by themselves to be embrac’d.
14 VI 21 Unless the giddy Heaven fall, 22 And Earth some new Convulsion tear; 23 And, us to joyn, the World should all 24 Be cramp'd into a Planisphere . VII 25 As Lines so Loves oblique may well 26 Themselves in every Angle greet: 27 But ours so truly Paralel , 28 Though infinite can never meet. VIII 29 Therefore the Love which us doth bind, 30 But Fate so enviously debarrs, 31 Is the Conjunction of the Mind, 32 And Opposition of the Stars.
15 Planisphere
16
17 Oblique lines
18 The Coronet 1 When for the Thorns with which I long, too long, 2 With many a piercing wound, 3 My Saviours head have crown'd, 4 I seek with Garlands to redress that Wrong: 5 Through every Garden, every Mead, 6 I gather flow'rs (my fruits are only flow'rs) 7 Dismantling all the fragrant Towers 8 That once adorn'd my Shepherdesses head. 9 And now when I have summ'd up all my store, 10 Thinking (so I my self deceive) 11 So rich a Chaplet thence to weave 12 As never yet the king of Glory wore: 13 Alas I find the Serpent old 14 That, twining in his speckled breast, 15 About the flow'rs disguis'd does fold, 16 With wreaths of Fame and Interest.
19 17 Ah, foolish Man, that would'st debase with them, 18 And mortal Glory, Heavens Diadem! 19 But thou who only could'st the Serpent tame, 20 Either his slipp'ry knots at once untie, 21 And disintangle all his winding Snare: 22 Or shatter too with him my curious frame: 23 And let these wither, so that he may die, 24 Though set with Skill and chosen out with Care. 25 That they, while Thou on both their Spoils dost tread, 26 May crown thy Feet, that could not crown thy Head.
20 Nick McDowell, Poetry and Allegiance in the British Civil Wars (OUP, 2008)12. “No poet is an island, especially in seventeenth-century England”. 10 “’The Horatian Ode’ finally lays to rest Stuart court culture.” 222 “Nobody argues any more that the poem is a Royalist or even a covertly Royalist poem: the debate is about the extent and nature of its Cromwellian and/or Republican sentiment.”
21
22 An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from IrelandThe forward youth that would appear Must now forsake his Muses dear, Nor in the shadows sing His numbers languishing. 'Tis time to leave the books in dust, And oil the unused armour's rust, Removing from the wall The corslet of the hall. So restless Cromwell could not cease In the inglorious arts of peace, But through adventurous war Urgèd his active star:
23 Drogheda massacre
24 Carisbrooke castle
25 Charles’ window
26 Charles at Carisbrooke
27 57 He nothing common did or mean 58 Upon that memorable scene, 59 But with his keener eye 60 The axe's edge did try; 61 Nor call'd the Gods, with vulgar spite, 62 To vindicate his helpless right; 63 But bow'd his comely head 64 Down, as upon a bed.
28 The Banquetting Hall, Whitehall
29 Banquetting Hall (Inigo Jones)
30 113 But Thou, the War's and Fortune's son, 114 March indefatigably on; 115 And for the last effect 116 Still keep the sword erect: Besides the force it has to fright 118 The spirits of the shady night, 119 The same arts that did gain 120 A power, must it maintain.