Andrew Marvell, a prominent figure in English literature, was not only a poet but also a satirist and a politician who served in the House of Commons during various periods between 1659 and 1678. He lived during a tumultuous era in English history, marked by the Stuart monarchy’s dissolution during the English Civil War, the brief interlude of a republican government, and the eventual restoration of the monarchy in 1660. These historical events profoundly influenced Marvell’s life and work.
“To His Coy Mistress,” one of Marvell’s most celebrated poems, combines the age-old poetic concept of seizing the moment (carpe diem) with vivid imagery and skilled use of rhyming couplets. His body of work also encompasses topical satire and religious themes.
Born in England on March 31, 1621, Marvell spent his early years in Hull, where he attended Hull Grammar School. His academic journey began at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1633 when he was just twelve years old. Remarkably, at the age of sixteen, some of his Latin and Greek poems were published in a Cambridge anthology. Marvell completed his degree in 1639 and continued his studies at the college.
During his time at Cambridge, Marvell may have briefly converted to Catholicism, but his father persuaded him to return to Anglicanism. In 1641, following his father’s death, he left Trinity College.
Between 1642 and 1647, Marvell likely traveled in continental Europe to avoid the English Civil War. During a visit to Rome in 1645, he encountered influential figures like the Villiers brothers and Richard Flecknoe. His travel route remains unclear, but it is known that he became proficient in four languages, including French, Italian, and Spanish.
In 1650, Marvell penned the “Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland,” which expressed mixed emotions about the execution of Charles I and celebrated Oliver Cromwell’s return from Ireland.
From 1650 to 1652, Marvell worked as a tutor, initially for Mary Fairfax, the daughter of a retired Cromwellian general, and later for one of Oliver Cromwell’s wards. This period, while residing at Nun Appleton Hall, inspired one of his most renowned works, “Upon Appleton House,” as well as his famous poem, “To His Coy Mistress.”
During the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652, Marvell wrote the satirical “Character of Holland,” which perpetuated stereotypes about the Dutch as “drunken and profane.”
In 1653, Marvell became a tutor to William Dutton, one of Cromwell’s wards, and moved to live at John Oxenbridge’s house in Eton. Oxenbridge’s voyages to Bermuda likely inspired Marvell’s poem “Bermudas.” He also composed several poems praising Cromwell, who was then the Lord Protector of England.
In 1657, Marvell joined John Milton, who was blind by that time, in serving as a Latin secretary to Cromwell’s Council of State, earning £200 per year, providing him with financial security. After Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard. In 1659, Marvell was elected as a Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull and re-elected in 1660 for the Convention Parliament.
The monarchy was restored in England in 1660 when Charles II returned to power. Remarkably, Marvell escaped punishment for his association with Cromwell and even played a role in preventing the execution of John Milton. The close relationship between Marvell and Milton is evident through Marvell’s eloquent prefatory poem, “On Mr. Milton’s Paradise Lost,” included in the second edition of Milton’s epic “Paradise Lost.”
In 1667, Marvell composed his longest satirical poem, “Last Instructions to a Painter,” in response to political corruption contributing to English failures during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. This poem was published in print after the 1688–9 Revolution.
Marvell passed away on August 18, 1678, and was buried in the church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields. He is often associated with the “metaphysical” school of poetry, much like John Donne and George Herbert. His famous works, including “To His Coy Mistress,” “On a Drop of Dew,” “The Garden,” and “The Mower,” blend romantic and pastoral themes with reflections on topics such as mortality, social changes, and Neoplatonic philosophy. Biblical influences are evident in poems like “The Garden,” the “Coronet,” and “The Bermudas.”
Marvell is sometimes referred to as the “British Aristides” for his unwavering integrity in life, despite his financial difficulties. Many of his poems were not published until 1681, three years after his death, from a collection owned by Mary Palmer, his housekeeper, who claimed to have been his wife since their secret marriage in 1667.