Natural details in the poetry of Andrew Marvell

This thesis sets out to examine the natural details that occur in Marvell’s poetry, and to discuss the literary questions - both historical and critical - which such an examination brings to light. It is divided into four parts. \nThe first part is introductory: chapter one suggests that an Important change took place in the choice and function of natural details in poetry during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; chapter two provides a historical survey of Marvell scholarship and criticism, and traces the emergence of various attitudes to the poet's use of natural details, showing how these reflect changing attitudes to poetry and nature. Part II Isolates the details from their contexts: chapter three discusses the sources from which they were drawn, bringing together and adding to the Information that has been discovered concerning Marvell's familiarity with the natural histories, and his indebtedness to other poets; chapter four deals with the sensuous and intellectual qualities of individual details. Part III considers the relevance to the poetry of contemporary views about nature: in chapter five as a philosophical or theological concept; in chapter six as the physical environment. The final part attempts to describe the natural details in context: the three chapters, seven to nine, deal with various aspects of the relationship between details from nature and the meaning they convey, and include accounts of formal imagery, emblems, conceits, description, and "nature poetry". \nThe bibliographies at the end list the books referred to in the course of the thesis. \n