TOM CLARK: Andrew Marvell: The Mower against Gardens (Imitation Life)

Berlin, Lichtenberg. Frankfurter Allee.: photo by Lyd.ium, November 2016

Andrew Marvell: The Mower against Gardens

Luxurious Man, to bring his Vice in use, 
  Did after him the World seduce: 
And from the fields the Flow'rs and Plants allure, 
  Where Nature was most plain and pure.
He first enclos'd within the Gardens square 
  A dead and standing pool of Air: 
And a more luscious Earth for them did knead, 
  Which stupifi'd them while it fed. 
The Pink grew then as double as his Mind; 
  The nutriment did change the kind.  
With strange perfumes he did the Roses taint. 
  And Flow'rs themselves were taught to paint. 
The Tulip, white, did for complexion seek; 
  And learn'd to interline its cheek: 
Its Onion root they then so high did hold,  
  That one was for a Meadow sold. 
Another World was search'd, through Oceans new, 
  To find the Marvel of Peru. 
And yet these Rarities might be allow'd, 
  To Man, that sov'raign thing and proud; 
Had he not dealt between the Bark and Tree, 
  Forbidden mixtures there to see. 
No Plant now knew the Stock from which it came; 
  He grafts upon the Wild the Tame: 
That the uncertain and adult'rate fruit  
  Might put the Palate in dispute. 
His green Seraglio has its Eunuchs too; 
  Lest any Tyrant him out-doe. 
And in the Cherry he does Nature vex, 
  To procreate without a Sex.  
'Tis all enforc'd; the Fountain and the Grot; 
  While the sweet Fields do lye forgot: 
Where willing Nature does to all dispence 
  A wild and fragrant Innocence: 
And Fauns and Faryes do the Meadows till,  
  More by their presence then their skill. 
Their Statues polish' d by some ancient hand,
  May to adorn the Gardens stand: 
But howso'ere the Figures do excel, 
  The Gods themselves with us do dwell.  

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678): The Mower against Gardens, from Miscellaneous Poems, 1681

Berlin, Hermannstrasse: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Hohenzollerndamm: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Lichtenberg. Frankfurter Allee.: photo by Lyd.ium, 2016

Berlin, Marzahn: photo by Lyd.ium, 2016

Berlin, Marzahn: photo by Lyd.ium, November 2016

Berlin, Selchower Strasse: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Wismannstrasse: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Hallesches Tor: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Neukölln. Karl-Marx Strasse.: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Exarchia, Athens, Greece: photo by Lyd.ium, December 2014

Athens, Greece: photo by Lyd.ium, December 2014

Berlin, Flughafenstrasse: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Berlin, Rahnsdorf: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Elevator: photo by Lyd.ium, March 2017

Smokers' room: photo by Lyd.ium, February 2017

Berlin, Skalitzer Strasse: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

Lisbon: photo by Lyd.ium, 2015

(Imitation Life)

#3: photo by toufiq_ovi, 9 April 2017

Berlin, Alexanderplatz: photo by Lyd.ium, May 2014

Berlin: photo by Lyd.ium, November 2014

[Untitled]: photo by Rammy Narula, 25 May 2015

An elderly man sits on a bench in front of the barrels and sandbags blocking a road crossing from the south, Greek Cypriot, to the north, Turkish Cypriot breakaway controlled areas in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 10, 2017. Talks aimed at reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus resume after a two-month halt. But negotiations face difficult challenges with the island's Greek Cypriot president accusing the breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader of backpedaling on key issues at Turkey's prompting after months of solid progress. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup mounted by supporters of union with Greece.: photo by Petros Karadjias/AP, 10 April 2017

[Price, Utah]: photo by Lucas DeShazer, 1 March 2017

A couple sits by the Pothong River which runs through the North Korean capital at the end of a work day Monday, April 10, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.: photo by Wong Maye-E/AP, 10 April 2017

Montana: photo by Lucas DeShazer, 23 January 2017

Grab a drink | by Spyros Papaspyropoulos

Grab a drink. Rethymna, Crete.: photo by Spyros Papaspyropoulos, 26 February 2017

[Untitled]: photo by Artyt Lerdrakmongkol, 8 April 2017

6 comments:

TC11 April 2017 at 01:31
Imitations of Life: The Films of Douglas Sirk (trailer)
kent11 April 2017 at 07:15
Loved discovering Mower at UM: Prof. Knott saying, "No, Kent, it really IS about a REAL mower." Metaphor, smetaphor thot I.
TC11 April 2017 at 09:09
kent,

Thanks for reminding me once again that this blog is available on planet Earth, and that sentient creatures dwell thereon. How easy it is to forget, sometimes.

In any case... yes, hard not to believe Andrew had eyeballed an actual sweaty, hunky, nonmetaphorical mower or two in his period as a tutor on Thomas Fairfax's estate... though again, who really knows for sure, as all is more than somewhat mystery-shrouded with our Andrew... not forgetting the legendary private drinking, the obscure Peruvian ancestry and the secretive work as a field investigator for the EPA... and that's as should be, I reckon.
STEPHEN RATCLIFFE11 April 2017 at 15:25
"And Flow'rs themselves were taught to paint" -- as was someone in Berlin, who thence has gone on to paint these bright flowers and trees on these otherwise somewhat drab colored walls. Thanks Tom!
kent11 April 2017 at 18:29
Sentient being a relative term.
TC12 April 2017 at 09:21
Andrew and the Mower return...

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Andrew Marvell: The Mower against Gardens (Imitation Life)

6 comments: