Customer Reviews

The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

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I have used this edition of Marvell's poems for many years in teaching. I also once wrote a brief article about a mistake in it, but for the most part consider the edition very satisfactory. The appearance of *Andrew Marvell: Pastoral and Lyric Poems 1681* (University of Western Australian Press, 2000) has led me to re-appraise Donno's work. The UWA edition is really a selection, and its text is less good than Donno's, though it offers far more - and very rewarding - annotation. This should be of help for specialised work. But Donno offers perfectly adequate help to the average student; she presents ALL of the poems, and she does so in a responsibly modernised, clear text. This continues to be the edition which most academic teachers will want to prescribe, and it is of significance to scholars, too. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University (South Australia)

Like all the Penquin Classics, this paperback edition of all of Andrew Marvell's poems is attractive, well-bound, and uses a nice, decent-sized, very readable font.

Though the "mower poems" and To His Coy Mistress contain some of the most beautiful lines in all poetry, so much of Marvell's work consists of lengthy, politically themed poems that are usually centered on some event that was occurring during the poet's life. It's a real pity he did not write more of the shorter, lyrical poems that he excelled at. Two poems, "The Mower Against Gardens" and "The Garden" are among my favorites. One enumerates the many delights of having a garden; the other notes that gardens are not as beautiful as natural wildflower meadows where everything grows in delightful chaos, and admonishes gardeners for taking tropical plants and transplanting them in cold, alien environments. The handful of incomparable poems in this volume make it a collection worth having. And if you also enjoy the political poems, it's great having all the poems in one book.

While Andrew Marvell, was an influential poet in the 17th Century and while his poetry and prose is still a testament to the English language, this collection lacks the emphasis on his excellent shorter poems that use brilliant and sharp language and instead focuses on his lengthy plays that are dry and convoluted. Maybe another version would be better, check his poetry online to decide which volume to buy.