Andrew Marvell is a metaphysical poet

Andrew Marvell is the most famous metaphysical poet after John Donne. Some of his poems are very popular and read by people even today. “To His Coy Mistress” is one of his most popular poems. England was going through a rough period when Marvel came of age. Civil war erupted in England and Puritans seized power and royalists returned to power. Marvel was a clever person; he tried to adapt himself to his contemporary political condition which is why he did not suffer much. As a metaphysical poet, he was a follower of Donne but he did not follow him blindly. In many matters, he and Donne shared similar thoughts and ideas but there were dissimilarities as well. Donne was not a man of emotion but Andrew Marvell, in many cases, gave importance to his emotion. Reading his poetry, often readers would feel that there are some resemblances between Marvell and Elizabethan poets. Sometimes it would feel that he was a follower of Petrarchan style. Sometimes readers would find that Donne and Andrew shared almost same thoughts. 

Already I have mentioned that Marvell had a tough time due to political instability in England at that period. It was one of the worst periods in the history of England. This had hindered on Andrew Marvel’s advancement as a poet. He presented various thoughts in his poetry which would lead many readers to believe that there is no regular pattern in his work. 

In his famous poem “To His Coy Mistress”, we can see a great mixture of logic, emotion and intellect. He is telling his beloved that even though she is beautiful she should have physical intercourse. In this regard, he actually made fun of Platonic love and tried to show that such love has no value. He also tried to show that he was emotional and had great love for his beloved. He presented this matter by using various examples, conceit, comparison, simile and metaphor. 

“The Definition of Love” is another famous poem of Andrew Marvell. Here he presented a different analysis of love. Reading this poem, readers would feel that Marvell was a pessimist. It would seem that there is no such thing as real love and one should not be excited about it. 

“The Drop of Dew” is free from any type of religious emotion but the poet talked about religion instead of love between a man and a woman in this poem. Here he talked about holiness and purity. Reading this poem, reader might think that Andrew Marvell was very different from that of a metaphysical poet. 

Overall, Andrew Marvell was a metaphysical poet and we can say a few things in this regard. Firstly, his use of conceit. In “To His Coy Mistress”, he used many conceits. He talked about the Ganges. India was discovered at that time and he mentioned the Ganges river of India. The Ganges is the most sacred river of India. It shows that Andrew Marvell was a metaphysical poet. Though his poets had other features but none of them affected the metaphysical qualities of his poetry.