Andrew Marvell
On 21 February 1653, Milton recommended Andrew Marvell for a position with the Commonwealth's Council of State as his assistant after his previous assistant died. It is uncertain when the two first met, but Marvell knew Milton's works and included similar themes within his own poetry a few years prior. Milton liked Marvell, and in his recommendation describes Marvell as
a man whom both by report, & converse I have had with him, of singular desert for the state to make us of; who also offers himselfe, if there by any imployment for him... if upon the death of Mr. Wakerly the Councell shall think that I shall need any assistant in the performance of my place (though for my part I find noe encumberances of that which belongs to me, except it be in point of attendance at Conferences with Ambassadors, which I much confesse, in my Condition I am not fit for) it would be hard for them to find a Man soe fit every way for the purpose as this Gentleman
The Council did not accept Marvell, and they instead made Philip Meadows, a diplomat, assistant to Milton. By September 1657, Marvell was finally allowed to be Milton's assistant, and the two become close. During this time, John Dryden was employed in the same office and, according to Barbara Lewalski, it was "A remarkable happenstance, that the three best poets of the age should be together at the same time in Cromwell's bureaucracy!"
Read more about this topic: John Milton's Relationships, Friendship
Famous quotes by andrew marvell:
“The wanton Troopers riding by
Have shot my Fawn and it will die.
Ungentle men! They cannot thrive
To kill thee. Thou ne’er didst alive
Them any harm: alas, nor could
Thy death yet do them any good.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“Annihilating all that’s made
To a green thought in a green shade.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“Though Justice against Fate complain,
And plead the antient Rights in vain:
But those do hold or break
As Men are strong or weak.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“Your courteous lights in vain you waste,
Since Juliana here is come,
For she my mind hath so displaced
That I shall never find my home.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)