Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: ANDREW MARVELL'S 'DEFINITION OF LOVE', by CONSTANCE CAROLINE WOODHILL NADEN


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SONNET: ANDREW MARVELL'S 'DEFINITION OF LOVE', by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: My love is of a birth as rare
Last Line: "yet I rejoice, and take thee for my king."
Subject(s): Love - Nature Of; Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678); Poetry & Poets


"My love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis for object strange and high;
It was begotten of Despair
Upon Impossibility."

LOVE sought me -- not the blind god infantine,
But Love with lucent eyes and pensive brow;
And as I mused with what adoring vow
I should accost that visitant divine,
He said, "Think but a thought and I am thine,
Exalting thee to heavenly heights, which thou
Without me canst not reach; yet ponder now,
Nor rashly to my power thy life resign;

For never will I grant thy full desire,
But will transpierce thy heart with many a wound,
And in the end will leave thee sorrowing."
Then said I -- "Though thy voice be sternly tuned,
Though still thou feed, and ne'er assuage, my fire,
Yet I rejoice, and take thee for my King."






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