"The Definition of Love" by Andrew Marvell

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 31, 2018   The Definition of Love   Andrew Marvell

My Love is of a birth as rare As 'tis for object strange and high: It was begotten by despair Upon Impossibility.   Magnanimous Despair alone Could show me so divine a thing, Where feeble Hope could ne'r have flown But vainly flapt its Tinsel Wing.   And yet I quickly might arrive Where my extended Soul is fixt, But Fate does Iron wedges drive, And alwaies crowds it self betwixt.   For Fate with jealous Eye does see Two perfect Loves; nor lets them close: Their union would her ruine be, And her Tyrannick pow'er depose.   And therefore her Decrees of Steel Us as the distant Poles have plac'd, (Though Love's whole World on us doth wheel) Not by themselves to be embrac'd.   Unless the giddy Heaven fall, And Earth some new Convulsion tear; And, us to joyn, the World should all Be cramp'd into a Planisphere.   As Lines so Loves oblique may well Themselves in every Angle greet: But ours so truly Parallel, Though infinite can never meet.                                                     Therefore the Love which us doth bind, But Fate so enviously debarrs, Is the Conjunction of the Mind, And Opposition of the Stars.                This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   "The Definition of Love" appeared in Miscellaneous Poems (Robert Boulter, 1681).   Andrew Marvell was born on March 31, 1621, in Yorkshire, England. Considered one of the great poets of the seventeenth century, Marvell published very little of his poetry during his lifetime. His collection, Miscellaneous Poems, was published in 1681, several years after his death on August 16, 1678. Poetry by Marvell   The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics, 2005) "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)" by William Shakespeare "In the Evening" by Fenton Johnson "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon Byron March Guest Editor: Meghan O'Rourke   Thanks to Meghan O'Rourke, author of Sun in Days (W. W. Norton, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about O'Rourke​ and our other guest editors for the year. Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038