ENG 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell, English Landscape Garden
Introduction to Andrew Marvell:
“To His Coy Mistress,” “The Mower’s Song,” and “The Garden”
These notes cover the information found on the following pages:
• Introduction to Marvell (pg. 1743);
• “To His Coy Mistress” (pg. 1749-50);
• “The Mower’s Song” (pg. 1752-3)
• “The Garden” (pg. 1753-55)
About the Author
Marvell was a pretty slippery character in English
literary history. We actually know very little about him,
and it is only because his housekeeper was trying to
scam the bank (claiming to be his widow) that we have a
volume of his poetry, which she published, trying to
make herself look like a grieving widow (so that she
could get her paws on the money he left behind, of
course).
In addition, he worked really hard to try to hide his true feelings about politics and
religion during his lifetime. You really can’t believe
anything he puts in verse; he was either using some
other “voice,” or he was being ironic. He was a
Protestant because his father insisted that he be one;
he flirted with converting to Catholicism. He was
friends with both Royalists (those who were loyal to
the monarchy and wanted to retain it as Britain’s form
of government) and with Republicans (those who
wanted to establish a democratic republic in Britain,
and who overthrew the monarchy and executed
Charles I in order to do so).
He was well-educated in the British tradition
(Cambridge), and was criticized for being too common
and using the “coarse and vulgar language” of the
commoner. He was raised in the English countryside,
but lived in major cities on the European continent
(such as Paris and Rome) and in London, where he
made his living as a tutor, Secretary of the Council of
State and Member of Parliament. The gardens of his
home would inspire him to write poetry that would feature the garden as a metaphor, as you
will see, since we are reading two of his “garden poems.” It seems, though, that even though he
Document Summary
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