The Complete Poems

the critical heritage

Plot

Andrew Marvell was one of the most interesting and important poets of the seventeenth century. He was also a member of parliament, tutor to a ward of Oliver Cromwell's, a satirist and a friend and colleague of Milton's. Yet, apart from one or two anthology pieces like 'To his Coy Mistress', his final establishment as a major poet has waited on the twentieth century. It was T.S. Eliot himself who finally insisted on Marvell's importance, and his essay of 1921 has set very largely the tone and context of modern criticisms. Elizabeth Story Donno's edition was the first complete edition of Marvell's poetry to appear in paperback. This edition re-examines the textual basis of the poetry and is based on a recent study of the extant manuscripts. Except in special cases, the spelling has been modernized while the punctuation remains as indicated in the original. Modern translations are provided for Marvell's Greek and Latin poems.