“Damon the Mower” demonstrates Marvell’s capacity to transform conventional genres and literary echoes into mysterious and idiosyncratic verse.
The poem quickly introduces a song by Marvell’s titular mower. Pathetic fallacy has been literalized as Damon’s internal sense of sexual and romantic inadequacy becomes mirrored in his pastoral context. He sings “With love of Juliana stung”; meanwhile, “everything did seem to paint/ The scene more fit for his complaint”. The day is fair “Like her fair eyes”, yet it is also “scorching like his am’rous care” (2-6).
The poem has been dated to the summer of 1652, which was unusually hot (Smith 135; Hirst and Zwicker).
We see a crucial aspect of the …
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Citation: Prawdzik, Brendan. "Damon the Mower". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35639, accessed 21 November 2024.]
