Andrew Marvell: Poems Lesson Plan

Why do you think Andrew Marvell chose to write a cycle of poems about a mower, of all kinds of people?

Some students may speculate (without knowing the dates of publication for Marvell's different poems) that Marvell got the idea while staying at the house of Lord Fairfax. Others may think that it was a more thought-out, practical choice for Marvell: the mower is a figure who is regularly in contact with nature, but is equally apt to see people of a higher social status than himself, especially if working on a noble's manor. Neither of these viewpoints is mutually exclusive, however.

How does the portrayal of love in the cycle of mower poems compare with its portrayal...