Andrew Marvell (1) (1621–1678)

I enjoyed some of Marvell's early pastoral poems, pushed through ten verses about his aristocratic patron's house and garden, and balked at the prospect of another 90 panegyric verses about m'lord's other, presumably nine-times-more-splendid, gaff. With more prospect-balking in consideration of poems extolling Cromwell's genocidal campaigns in Ireland, I gave it up in default of having world enough, and time.

The non-stop rhymed couplets were a bit clangy and distracting, especially after spending so long reading Blake's long, unrhymed lines. At least English prosody hadn't reached the dullness, in Marvell's day, that was the age of Pope and Dryden. The pseudo-pastoral stuff wasn't all that interesting, but Marvell is good in his descriptions of nature. I was surprised to find the best of his poems to be a long piece about his friend's house in the country. I almost didn't even read that poem show more since it was mis-categorized by the editor with the political satires, which dreary things I barely gave a few minutes of attention before closing the book.

Marvell isn't the kind of poet one revisits, but it's good finally to have read more than "To His Coy Mistress." show less

Cinque stelle, oltre che per le poesie e il poeta, anche per la piccola e preziosa edizione della benemerita Folio Society. Questo è un microlibro, un piccolo gioiello.

A fine compilation of 17th poets, including George Herbert. I am not a huge fan of 17th century religious poetry, but this was a good book to give one an overview and a starting point for further study.