Andrew Marvell in ＂The Garden＂

Abstract

It seems that we know almost everything about Andrew Marvell, including his political positions and his relationship with John Milton, but in reality we actually know very little about his private self. As noted by Augustine Birrel, his biographer, he rarely comes to the surface. This paper proposes that in Garden, Marvell comes to the surface revealing his vision of life; the poem shows the light and brisk movement of mind and wit which undergirded the firm grasp of the poet's experience. For example, stanzas three and four have a deep meaning which perhaps refers to the cross. Being a sincere and rational Christian, Marvell, as in his Bermudas, links nature and religion without confusing them. In stanza six Marvell's quest for an untroubled relationship between mind and world is accomplished in the redeemed space of the garden, In stanza seven the easy intimacy of Marvell with birds and trees reflects the oneness of the seventeenth century man with nature with his acceptance of the Neo-Platonic Great Chain of Being which at once distinguishes and unites all levels of existence. The tense-shift in stanza eight might be a subtle reminder of England's recent political turmoil which caused Marvell's retreat. The final stanza also shows the faithfulness towards order in diversity, unity in multiplicity, for the poet, renewed and enlivened by his contemplations, celebrates time's course in the single, quiet figure of the dial.