The Definition of Love

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'er have flown
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.

And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed;
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowd itself betwixt.

For Fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, no lets them close;
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrannic power depose.

And therefore her decress of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel),
Not by themselves to be embraced,

Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear,
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramped 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 debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.


Andrew Marvell's poem The Definition of Love has a very interesting portrayal of Fate as a feminine character with human characteristics such as love. By personifying fate, Marvell places the onus of the relationship on Fate, and blames any hinderances on Fate itself. I found it interesting that Marvell would chose Fate to be feminine. Firstly, it made me thing of Greek mythology. Now, I really don't know Greek mythology, so I decided to google and see what I could find. The Fates were three goddesses that determined human life and destiny, according to MSN encarta. This seemed to fit rather nicely, whether or not Marvell had this in mind, I'm not quite sure. The poem surely speaks of Fate's interaction between the two lovers "But Fate does iron wedges drive/And alwasy crounds itself betwixt" (12). Another perhaps more modern interpretation I had of the feminine figure of Fate was that of a jealous ex lover. Jealousy for some reason seems to more oftenly fall on the side of the woman-lover, rather than the man. Marvell speaks of the lover's being parallel, yet never able to meet, due to Fate's intervension. This poem also had me thinking about what defines a 'soulmate' , and whether or not this poem could be a truth about it. The question that arose in my mind was if everone does have a soulmate, what happens if fate does intervene and you never meet? or what if you do meet and do not realize that it is your soulmate that you see face to face? It is quite harsh to believe that some people indeed to have a soulmate, yet never have the opportunity to meet that person that perhaps could complete them. I certainly hope that won't be the case for me!