Early 17th Century: Andrew Marvell

"Andrew Marvell (March 31, 1621 – August 16, 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, and the son of an Anglican clergyman. As a metaphysical, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert. He was the first assistant of John Milton" (wikipedia). Andrew Marvell's “To His Coy Mistress” is often on the GRE. You might also want to familiarize yourself with his poem “The Garden.” You should know what a metaphysical conceit is and what hallmarks of Marvell's work make him a metaphysical poet.

• Biography
• Essays on Andrew Marvell
  • Marvell and Ovid: "Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress' and Sandys's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses" - Robert H. Ray
• Introduction to Metaphyical Poetry
• Works
  • “To His Coy Mistress”
    • Essays :
      • The Persuasion of the Coy Mistress - Robert W. Halli, Jr.
      • Cohesion as Logic: The Possible Worlds of Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress" - Jeffrey W. Karon
  • “The Garden"

• "Had we but world enough, and time,
  This coyness, lady, were no crime.
  We would sit down and think which way
  To walk, and pass our long love's day;" (from “To His Coy Mistress”)

• "When we have run our passion's heat,
  Love hither makes his best retreat :
  The gods who mortal beauty chase,
  Still in a tree did end their race.
  Apollo hunted Daphne so,
  Only that she might laurel grow,
  And Pan did after Syrinx speed,
  Not as a nymph, but for a reed." (from “The Garden")