Selected Poems

Front Cover
Routledge, 2002 - 96 pages
"The quality which [Andrew] Marvell had," T.S. Eliot remarked, "whether we call it wit or reason or even urbanity.is something precious and needed and apparently extinct." This selection does justice to every aspect of his poetry and demonstrates why he remains one of the best-loved poets in English.

His life spans three ages: the reign of Charles I, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration. But however much his politics altered with history's altering seasons, his poetry is all of a piece, from the bold fairness of "An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" to the luminous visioni of nature in 'Upon Appleton House'. Philip Larkin admired Marvell's "hallucinatory images" and his "sudden sincerities that are as convincing in our age as his."

As well as twenty-nine selected poems, this volume includes a concise introduction to Marvell and a brief guide to further reading.

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About the author (2002)

Andrew Marvell was born on March 31, 1621 at Winestead-in-Holderness, Yorkshire. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1638. He acted as the tutor of the daughter of the Lord General of parliamentary forces and of Oliver Cromwell's ward. Marvell was also John Milton's assistant. Marvell's best known poem is "To His Coy Mistress." Under false names, he wrote numerous political and religious satires. Andrew Marvell died on August 16, 1678, the circumstances of his death questionable. Some claim that he died of an accidental medical overdose while others feel that he was poisoned by his enemies.

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