Alongside poets like John Dryden and John Milton, Andrew Marvell has earned a reputation as one of the most important 17th century English poets. His works are often classed as well with the work of other "metaphysical" poets, such as John Donne, Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughn, Richard Crawshaw, and George Herbet. Like these poets, his "metaphysical" poetry often relies on complex and drawn-out comparisons ("conceits") which combine intricacy of abstraction with depth of feeling.
In his Poems, readers get to see the best of Andrew Marvell's poetic work: his range of subject matter, his facility with human emotions, and his intelligence with his diction. In the process of doing so, they...
