Andrew Marvell

@Trinity College, Cambridge, Family and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Andrew Marvell was an English poet famous for his poem, ‘To His Coy Mistress’ British Trinity College, Cambridge Writers Poets Aries Celebrities One of the major English poets of the 17th century, Andrew Marvell was a metaphysical poet known for his passionate, sensuous and elegant lyrics. The proof of his greatness as a poet lies in the fact that his works continue to be praised and admired even in the contemporary period. He was deeply influenced by John Donne and the metaphysical school, yet his works also display the characteristic elegance of the cavalier school. Thus Andrew Marvell can be called an important transitional figure whose works effortlessly bridged the metaphysical school and the cavalier school. He was a protégé and friend of John Milton, and like him, wrote several poems dedicated to contemporary political issues; in fact many postmodern theorists have focused on Marvell as a political writer. Marvell was also a politician who served as a member of the House of Commons. As a poet, he began writing at a young age though his initial poems that were published. while he was still in college, were in Greek and Latin. It is ironical that much of his sarcastic political satires were not published during his lifetime, and he became recognized as a major poet only after his death. The life of this enigmatic poet has always fascinated historians due to the scarcity of information about his personal life.

Personal Details

Birthday: March 31, 1621 Died on: August 16, 1678 Nationality: British Famous: Trinity College, Cambridge, Writers, Poets Spouses: Mary Palmer Universities: Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College Cambridge University of Cambridge Hull Grammar School Notable Alumnis: Trinity College Cambridge Information Detail Birthday March 31, 1621 Died on August 16, 1678 Nationality British Famous Trinity College, Cambridge, Writers, Poets Spouses Mary Palmer Universities Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College Cambridge University of Cambridge Hull Grammar School Notable Alumnis Trinity College Cambridge Birth Place Winestead, England Gender Male Father Andrew Marvell Mother Anne Pease Sun Sign Aries Born in Winestead, England Famous as Poet Died at Age 57

Winestead, England

Andrew Marvell born at Unsplash Birth Place

The details about the personal life of this poet remain a mystery. Even though he was a bachelor when he died, his housekeeper Mary Palmer claimed that they had been secretly married in 1667. However, her claims were believed to be dubious though they added to the mystery surrounding the poet. Unsplash Personal Life

He died on 16 August 1678 after a fever. His sudden and unexpected death, at the age of 57, led to rumors that he had in fact been poisoned to death by the Jesuits. Unsplash Personal Life

Only some of his poems had been published during his lifetime. A vast majority of his works were published posthumously in 1681, three years after his death. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born on 31 March 1621 to Reverend Andrew Marvell, a Church of England clergyman, and his wife Anne Pease Marvell. His father was appointed as a lecturer at Holy Trinity Church when the young Andrew was three years old. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He received his primary education from the Hull Grammar School. In 1633, at the age of 12, he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge from where he eventually completed his B.A. degree in 1639. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He started writing poems in college and two of his poems, one in Latin and the other in Greek were published in an anthology of Cambridge poets. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He wanted to continue his studies and complete his master’s degree but his father’s accidental death and the outbreak of the civil war in 1642 forced him to abandon his studies. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Since not much information is available about the writer, it is speculated that he might have worked for a short while in the shipping business of his brother-in-law after leaving Cambridge. Unsplash Career

During the 1640s he traveled extensively over Europe, in a four-year long tour of the continent. Some sources suggest that he worked as tutor during his travels in order to earn his livelihood. Unsplash Career

By touring all over Holland, France, Italy, and Spain, he totally avoided the civil war back home in England. His extensive travels helped him add Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian to his vocabulary. Unsplash Career

He wrote several poems between 1645 and 1649 which express a Royalist tone, thus labeling him as a Royalist sympathizer. Unsplash Career

He was very much attracted by the personality of Oliver Cromwell and wrote "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland" in 1650. The poem garnered a lot of attention for its skillful lyrics and also created some controversy regarding the poet’s admiration for the military general. Unsplash Career

One of his best known works is ‘To His Coy Mistress’ which is a metaphysical poem in which the poet addresses a woman who is slow to respond to his advances and laments that he does not have enough time to admire and love her. Unsplash Major Works

’Upon Appleton House’ is another one of his famous poems. Written for Thomas Fairfax, the poem describes the Nun Appleton estate while reflecting upon the political issues of the time. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	March 31, 1621
Died on	August 16, 1678
Nationality	British
Famous	Trinity College, Cambridge, Writers, Poets
Spouses	Mary Palmer
Universities	Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College Cambridge University of Cambridge Hull Grammar School
Notable Alumnis	Trinity College Cambridge
Birth Place	Winestead, England
Gender	Male
Father	Andrew Marvell
Mother	Anne Pease
Sun Sign	Aries
Born in	Winestead, England
Famous as	Poet
Died at Age	57

Andrew Marvell

British

Mar 31, 1621

Biography

Personal Details

Winestead, England