ABSTRACT

Marvell's characteristic ironic tone reflects awareness that, however much we may regret it, the world is fallen and that we must therefore chasten our expectations. A belief in an essential human freedom which no outward force can touch is central to Marvell's thought, as to Milton's. Marvell rejected Hobbist reason of state as he rejected Calvinist predestination: to him, man is a reasonable creature and therefore free. A similar view is implicit in many of Marvell's lyrics, which tend either to be aids to the embattled soul or, more often, reflections on, or definitions of, the human condition. In somewhat similar terms, John Creaser has identified Marvell's wit with gaiety transfiguring dread, 'the mind's declaration of independence from the fall and its attendant train of fears and sorrows. Both Marvell and Milton see the situation of the blind and shorn Samson as representative, not least in his ultimate solitude.