Essay About Marvells Poetry And Cromwell Poems

Political And Pastoral In Marvells Poetry
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“A tension between the worlds of political engagement and private retreat”
How distinct are the political and the pastoral in Marvells poetry
The political and the pastoral certainly figures highly in Marvells poetry and often
the two worlds become intertwined. Indeed, Marvell frequently utilises metaphors of
nature to help convey and rationalise his political thoughts and feelings. With
particular reference to the mower and Cromwell poems, I shall explore the
relationship between the political and the pastoral in his work.
To begin, in the overtly political poem An Horation Ode upon Cromwells return from
Ireland, Marvell begins by describing Cromwell emerging from a muses “shadow”,
and “private gardens, Where he lived reserved and austere”. This, as the critic
Friedman asserts, is a typical retreat of “poetic creativity”, and one often employed by
Marvell. Indeed, in A poem upon the death of his late Highnesse the Lord Protector,
Marvell presents a young Cromwell spending “pleasing hours” with his mother. The
addition of a private presentation of Cromwell lends him a more human edge and
helps us to understand his human weaknesses. In his Horation Ode, Marvell portrays
Cromwell as a “flame of angry heavens” who “tis madness to resist or blame”. This
lends Cromwell a godlike eminence or as Thomas. M. Greene asserts, puts him
“beyond ethical categories”. However, Marvell continues that the “same arts that did
gain a power, must it maintain”, i.e. the “inglorious arts” of war. The irony of
comparing war, something primarily destructive, as an art, highlights the unease and
possibly transient nature of Cromwells rule. Certainly, the fact that Marvell likens
Cromwell to a Falcon, who once “having killd” seeks a “green bough” to perch on
and then “the falconer has her sure”, shows that although he is strong, he cannot
continue forever and will eventually be in some way controlled. Therefore, by
utilising the idea of
natural retreat, Marvell subtly asserts beneath the grandiloquent verse, the frailty and
humanity of Cromwell existence.
Indeed the idea of the “green bough”, is a recurring notion in marvels poetry,
and is often Connected with thought and retreat. In the epic poem Upon Appleton
House Marvell seeks “sanctuary” in the woodland to “among the trees and birds
confer”. This is something that the critic Friedman asserts as the “primeval unity of
mind and nature”. This is amply supported by the line in Damon The mower, “My
mind was once a true survey of all these meadows fresh and gay”, and further more
in the garden Marvell is able to refine his reflections to “a green thought in a green
shade”. The idea appears to be one of simplicity and inward reflection, in each of
these poems; Marvell initially rejects the public world. In the garden “society is all
but rude, to this delicious solitude”. Similarly in Upon Appleton House, Marvell seeks
sanctuary from the flooded meadow, which, if compared with the idea presented in
the garden that the mind “is an ocean” able to construct seas, suggests that he is trying
to escape the flood of consuming thoughts. Indeed, many critics assert that Upon
Appleton House examines the competing claims of public service and the search for
personal insight and there is much evidence to support this. For instance,
although Marvell sets himself in a traditional pastoral scene with “fragrant gardens”
and “shady woods”, we see through Marvells language how the political world
permeates the scene. The flowers are placed in “regiment” and “garrisons” and the
idea that once upon a time “the gardener had the soldiers place”, shows that political
conflict has almost overthrown his thoughts by invading his pastoral scene, “but war
does all this overgrow”. Here, we see clearly both the tension between the political
and the personal and how they affect one another. Furthermore, we see these tensions
within the poems, particularly the so-called “mower” poems, that seem to convey a
genuine desire for simplicity that is also punctuated by an underlying cynicism. For
example Damon the mower presents himself as an idealistic “virtuous enemy of
man”, so in tune with nature that when he