The Definition Of Love Andrew Marvell Summary

The poem s speaker is an anonymous lover who contemplates the nature and definition of love.

The definition of love andrew marvell summary. Magnanimous despair alone could show me so divine a thing where feeble hope could ne r have flown but vainly flapt its tinsel wing. He begins by saying that his love is both rare and strange because it was begotten by despair upon impossibility. When the poem commences the speaker is somewhat confused by the discovery of his love being so rare and strange and yet so extraordinary that it just causes despair in the speaker and the possibility of getting the love is almost null. The definition of love is a poem by andrew marvell 1621 78 an english poet who lived in hull and whose work is closely associated with the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century.

He provides a subjective definition of love from a dejected lover s point of view. In this post we offer a short summary and analysis of the definition of love paying particular attention to its language meaning and themes. As tis for object strange and high. Mentioned first in the third stanza marvell introduces the idea of fate as the reason for his rough history with love.

The poetic persona is none other than the poet andrew marvell himself. It was begotten by despair upon impossibility. The poem the definition of love by andrew marvell depicts the platonic idea of love as an unfulfilled longing. The definition of love by andrew marvell is a regretful depiction of the poetic persona s love life.

The definition of love andrew marvell 1621 1678 my love is of a birth as rare as tis for object strange and high. Marvell wrote this poem in the classical tradition of a latin love elegy in which the speaker praises his mistress or lover through the motif of carpe diem or seize the day the poem also reflects the tradition of the erotic blazon in which a poet constructs elaborate images of his lover s beauty by carving her body into parts. Launch audio in a new window. Their love poetry deals with the philosophical not the.

It was begotten by despair. Andrew marvell is classified as a metaphysical poet. The metaphysical poets flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century. Andrew marvell s the definition of love is the epitome of irony.

The definition of love. It is categorized as a metaphysical poem due to its attempt to apply logic to the abstract notion of love. It was published in the poems of andrew marvell in 1892. He goes on to claim that only despair could reveal to him so divine a thing as this love because hope could never come near it.

My love is of a birth as rare. Andrew marvell wrote the poem the definition of love. Could show me so divine a thing.