Poem & Analysis of 'On a Drop of Dew' by Andrew Marvell

POEM

On a Drop of Dew

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)

See how the orient dew,

Shed from the bosom of the morn

 Into the blowing roses,

Yet careless of its mansion new,

For the clear region where ’twas born

 Round in itself incloses:

 And in its little globe’s extent,

Frames as it can its native element.

 How it the purple flow’r does slight,

  Scarce touching where it lies,

 But gazing back upon the skies,

  Shines with a mournful light,

   Like its own tear,

Because so long divided from the sphere.

 Restless it rolls and unsecure,

  Trembling lest it grow impure,

 Till the warm sun pity its pain,

And to the skies exhale it back again.

  So the soul, that drop, that ray

Of the clear fountain of eternal day,

Could it within the human flow’r be seen,

  Remembering still its former height,

  Shuns the sweet leaves and blossoms green,

  And recollecting its own light,

Does, in its pure and circling thoughts, express

The greater heaven in an heaven less.

  In how coy a figure wound,

  Every way it turns away:

  So the world excluding round,

  Yet receiving in the day,

  Dark beneath, but bright above,

  Here disdaining, there in love.

 How loose and easy hence to go,

 How girt and ready to ascend,

 Moving but on a point below,

 It all about does upwards bend.

Such did the manna’s sacred dew distill,

White and entire, though congealed and chill,

Congealed on earth : but does, dissolving, run

Into the glories of th’ almighty sun.

ANALYSIS

The Journey of Dew Drop in Andrew Marvel’s On a Drop of Dew

   Andrew Marvell is one of the important poets of emotions, feelings and intellectuality. The dew drop is a metaphor for human soul that desires to go back to heaven as early as possible. It shows its readiness to return to its original place that is heaven. The dew drop is nothing but an allegory for human soul here.

   The poem On a Drop of Dew opens abruptly. Firstly, the dew drop seems to have shed from the blossoms of the morning. Then dew drop is depicted as being indifferent to its new mansion ( of crimson roses ). Marvell explains that the dew drop is originated from heaven. It was born in the clear region of heaven. It is round in shape which indicates its completeness and perfection.

   In the second stanza, Marvell comments that the dew drop keeps gazing back at the sky, shinning with a mournful light. It indicates the eagerness of the dew drop to return to its abode -heavenly region- where it was born. The poet compares the dew drop to a tear drop. The dew drop is described as in “its own tears” since it is torn away from the heavenly region where it was born. The dew drop is sad because it is separated from its heavenly sphere. It feels unsafe in this world. It rolls restlessly and trembles with fear lest it becomes impure due to its contact with the mundane world. Ultimately the warm sun takes pity on its suffering and helps it to go back to heaven through the process of evaporation.

   However the process of getting back to the heaven is not easy. The pleasure and temptations of the world; of “sweet leaves and blossom green” pose obstacles. The soul is imagined as being “wound in a coy figure”. The soul slowly disdains the pleasures of the earth and gets ready to go back to heaven. It excludes the world around and allows the light of the heaven fall upon it. It looks dark below on the earth, but bright above in its eagerness to reach the heaven. It reflects both worlds it inhabits and the world it wants to attain.

   The dew drop is the central conceit of the poem. The dew drop is compared to the soul. It is caught in conflict between the earth and the heaven. It is caught in the transition between the material and the spiritual world. Marvel very cleverly compares the dew to the soul. The evaporation of the dew is compared to the journey from earth to the heaven.

Fathima Bi

2nd Yr. B.A. (HEE)

Sahyadri Arts College

Shivamogga