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Upcoming Meeting:
Tuesday 28th May 2024
Initiation
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See the Charity Page for MCF info
Poet and Politician
There are not many Lodges named after UK poets: Shakespeare (in various spellings) is evidenced in London, Warwick and North Lincs, Rudyard Kipling can be found in Lincolnshire (and also Corfu), and Robert Burns lends his name to more than one Scottish Lodge. All these men were Freemasons. There is no evidence that Andrew Marvell was ever a Mason - during his lifetime he was better known as a politician, civil servant and a satirist, boldly setting himself against corruption and advocating tolerance in difficult times.
The marble statue of Marvell outside Hull Minster is based on a portrait in the British Museum. It was carved by William Day Keyworth Jnr in 1867 and presented to the Corporation of Hull by Councillor John Winship in the October of that year. It is somewhat weathered and has suffered the indignity of pigeons and seagulls over the years. The granite plinth informs interested historians in letters of gold:
THE POET
ANDREW MARVELL
AN INCORRUPTIBLE PATRIOT A WISE STATESMAN
AND A ZEALOUS AND ENERGETIC REPRESENTATIVE
OF THIS HIS NATIVE TOWN IN PARLIAMENT
FROM 1658 TO 1678
_________
BORN 1621 DIED 1678
Had we but world enough and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.
_______
The verse is the beginning of Marvell's poem To His Coy Mistress which is probably his most famous work. The metaphysical poem was not published until after his death but is now regarded as a masterpiece.
Eddie Wildman
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW MARVELL
Thia summary represents a resume of a talk entitled ' The Life and Times of Andrew Marvell ' given by Worshipful Master Malcolm Forbes at a Lodge meeting of Andrew Marvell Lodge on 27th September 2021.
Andrew Marvell was born on 31st March 1621 and died on 16th August 1678.He was born in the village of Winestead between Patrington and Withernsea in East Yorkshire. His father also named Andrew was a Church of England clergyman who was appointed a lecturer at Hull Trinity Church (now Hull Minster). His father died crossing the river Humber in 1640.
He was educated at Hull Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He attended university from the age of 13 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was a leading Greek and Latin scholar. After university, he toured Europe. Not much is known about this period in his life.
Marvell's first poems were written in Greek and Latin. He was committed to the Parliamentary cause and was employed as a tutor to Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. He was assistant to John Milton when Milton was the Latin Secretary to the Council of State. He contributed a prefatory to Milton's Paradise Lost''.
Marvell's most famous poem To His Coy Mistress was published posthumously as was much of his literary work in a collection of his poems from a collection by his housekeeper Mary Palmer. He never married.
He is one of the leading metaphysical poets of the 17th century, concentrating on the inner self and conscience in his poetry, which evokes much emotional imagery.He was also a politician serving as MP for Hull for various periods between 1659 and 1678. He also worked during this period as London agent for Trinity House which is based in Hull.
Mystery surrounds his death. Some arguments are that he was poisoned by some political/ clerical enemies.
Andrew Marvell College, formerly Andrew Marvell School, was established as a school in Barham Road East Hull in 1953 and was renamed as a College in 2016.
Malcolm Forbes WM