Poet. The last of the great English metaphysical poets, with his refined style, regular metrics, and fondness for heroic couplets, he was also a harbinger of the neoclassical age. In spite of these neoclassical characteristics, however, Marvell's blending of the physical and the spiritual, the intellectual depth and ambiguities underlying witty surfaces, and his striking conceits clearly place him in the metaphysical tradition. "To His Coy Mistress," probably Marvell's best-known poem, appears on the surface to be another of the popular Renaissance carpe-diem poems, not unlike Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." But Marvell's poem, with its serious contemplation of time and its tension between the physical and the spiritual, goes beyond the conventional carpe-diem theme and suggests the neoplatonism evident in his garden poems. Though his poetry wasn't published until three years after his death, it is thought that most of the best-known poems were written while he was living at Nun Appleton House as tutor to Mary, daughter of Thomas, third Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Later Marvell assisted John Milton as Latin secretary for Cromwell's Council of State and served as a Member of Parliament both before and after the Restoration.
Poet. The last of the great English metaphysical poets, with his refined style, regular metrics, and fondness for heroic couplets, he was also a harbinger of the neoclassical age. In spite of these neoclassical characteristics, however, Marvell's blending of the physical and the spiritual, the intellectual depth and ambiguities underlying witty surfaces, and his striking conceits clearly place him in the metaphysical tradition. "To His Coy Mistress," probably Marvell's best-known poem, appears on the surface to be another of the popular Renaissance carpe-diem poems, not unlike Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." But Marvell's poem, with its serious contemplation of time and its tension between the physical and the spiritual, goes beyond the conventional carpe-diem theme and suggests the neoplatonism evident in his garden poems. Though his poetry wasn't published until three years after his death, it is thought that most of the best-known poems were written while he was living at Nun Appleton House as tutor to Mary, daughter of Thomas, third Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Later Marvell assisted John Milton as Latin secretary for Cromwell's Council of State and served as a Member of Parliament both before and after the Restoration.
Bio by: NatalieMaynor
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