The Mower to the Glowworms

The Mower to the Glow-Worms
By Andrew Marvell

Ye living lamps, by whose dear light
The nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer-night,
Her matchless songs does meditate;

Ye Country Comets, that portend
No war, nor princes funeral,
Shining unto no higher end
Than to presage the grasses' fall;

Ye glow-worms, whose officious flame
To wandring mowers shows the way,
That in the night have lost their aim,
And after foolish fires do stray;

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.

Ye living lamps, by whose dear light
The nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer-night,
Her matchless songs does meditate;

In this first stanza, the mower is overlooking his field on a summer night. The sun is down but light is still being emitted from the grass. It radiates from "living lamps" clinging to the blades of grass. These living lamps are the glowworms, who light the night for the other creatures who "sit so late." He is saying that the nightingale's song is it's way of meditating over the summer night.

Ye Country Comets, that portend

No war, nor princes funeral,

Shining unto no higher end

Than to presage the grasses' fall;

In the second stanza, he refers to the glowworms as country comets. Unlike real comets, he claims that these glowworms do not signify imminent catastrophe, such as the death of a prince or war. The only happening they forecast is the falling of the grass to the mower's blade.

Ye glow-worms, whose officious flame

To wandring mowers shows the way,

That in the night have lost their aim,

And after foolish fires do stray;

The glowworms emit their light, regardless the wishes of anyone around them. They serve as a runway to the mowers, thus guiding them in the night when they may have lost their aim. Perhaps though, they also serve a purpose to keep a mower focused if their minds had wandered from the task at hand. Foolish fires may be a reference to chasing Juliana, from the next stanza, and focusing on her when he is truly out there to do his job as a mower.

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.

This stanza further expands on the ideas presented in the third stanza. He says the light emitted by the glowworms is appreciated, but wasted. Juliana has his full attention, thus rendering the light useless, for he is lost not in body, but mind. In the 17th century, it was believed that, "The world is full of such glow-wormes, that make some show of Spiritual Light from God." With this in mind, one may gather that the mower feels that he does not have room in his life for spirituality while Juliana holds captive his heart.



sources: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m9_7gQPe-tkC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA175&dq=andrew+marvell+the+mower+to+the+glowworms+summary&ots=uMiWFj1R5r&sig=pu1q29oM-OP1dh1tF0f-SJI8h78#PRA1-PA169,M1

google images

http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/andrew_marvell.htm

Pictures by Thomas Hart Benton