Wreaths
No, we don't mean the kind you put on your door at Christmas time. The wreaths in this poem are actually more like crowns, and they're heavily associated with ambition. That kind of drive has no pl...
Floral Imagery
Dorothy's scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz sings about how he'd love a life "whiling away the hours conversing with the flowers" and we think Marvell knows exactly what this guy is talking about. Fl...
Colors
If anyone has ever accused you of using "colorful language," it probably means that you've been walking between risqué and wittily irreverent. This is a fine line to tread, and Marvell's use of co...
Classical Mythology
The Greek and Roman gods have come and gone in popularity over the centuries, but with Marvell they are certainly a lot closer to heroes than they are to zeroes. Allusions to classical myths pop up...
The Garden of Eden
About 100 years before Marvell was born, people in England were being burned alive for embellishing what was said in the Bible. During Marvell's lifetime, England went through a brutal civil confli...
Metaphysical Imagery
If you're studying metaphysics, you are primarily concerned with things that exist outside the realm of perceivable reality—things that people think are out there even though we can't physically...