The Modest Ambition of Andrew Marvell: A Study of Marvell and His Relation to Lovelace, Fairfax, Cromwell, and Milton

Marvell's evolving notion of his own role as poet is exhibited through his "reformation" of certain images in which an ultimate consistent development emerges that culminates in not just his rejection of what may be called the Edenic impulse, but a denial of its authenticity as such and an endorsement of destined progression. Both his occasional and thematic poetry may be seen for the most part as a response to the regicide, to the Interregnum, and perhaps most important, to his associations with four major figures of the time - Lovelace, Fairfax, Cromwell, and Milton.