Andrew Marvell

Clorinda and Damon

C.DAmon come drive thy flocks this way.
D. No: 'tis too late they went astray.
C. I have a grassy Scutcheon spy'd,

Heraldic language

A scutcheon is a shield displaying a coat of arms. Clorinda describes the meadow in courtly terms—Flora (goddess of flowers) is 'blazoning' (displaying heraldic emblems) her pride.

C. Where Flora blazons all her pride.
C. The Grass I aim to feast thy Sheep:
C. The Flow'rs I for thy Temples keep.
D. Grass withers; and the Flow'rs too fade.
C. Seize the short Joyes then, ere they vade.

Carpe diem argument

'Vade' means 'go away' or 'fade.' This is the classic seduction move: pleasures are fleeting, so seize them now before they vanish.

C. Seest thou that unfrequented Cave?

Competing interpretations

Clorinda and Damon interpret the same cave differently. She calls it 'Loves Shrine' (a temple for romance); he counters 'Virtue's Grave' (where chastity dies).

D. That den? C. Loves Shrine. D. But Virtue's Grave.
C. In whose cool bosome we may lye
C. Safe from the Sun. D. not Heaven's Eye.

God's surveillance

Clorinda offers the cave as shelter from the sun. Damon's rebuttal: you can hide from sunlight but not from God watching.

C. Near this, a Fountaines liquid Bell
C. Tinkles within the concave Shell.

Baptismal imagery

Damon shifts from physical to spiritual thirst. He's asking if the fountain offers religious purification, not just refreshment—Clorinda doesn't understand the question.

D. Might a Soul bath there and be clean,
C. Or slake its Drought? C. What is't you mean?
D. These once had been enticing things,
C. Clorinda, Pastures, Caves, and Springs.
C. And what late change? D. The other day
C. Pan met me. C. What did great Pan say?

Pan as Christ

In 17th-century pastoral poetry, 'great Pan' often coded as Christ. Damon's conversion happened when he met this Pan 'the other day.'

D. Words that transcend poor Shepherds skill,
C. But He ere since my Songs does fill:

Oat-straw pipe

An 'oate' is the shepherd's simple pipe made from oat straw. Damon says Pan's name makes even his humble instrument swell with better music.

C. And his Name swells my slender Oate.
C. Sweet must Pan sound in Damons Note.
D. Clorinda's voice might make it sweet.
C. Who would not in Pan's Praises meet?
Chorus.
Of Pan the flowry Pastures sing,
Caves eccho, and the Fountains ring.
Sing then while he doth us inspire;
For all the World is our Pan's Quire.

Universal choir

The chorus transforms all nature into Pan's choir—pastures, caves, fountains all sing his praise. This is the religious vision Damon now inhabits.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Seduction That Fails

This is a pastoral dialogue where the woman tries to seduce the man—a gender reversal of the usual setup. Clorinda deploys the full arsenal of carpe diem arguments: look at this beautiful meadow, these flowers for your hair, this shady cave, this cool fountain. Each offer gets more sexually suggestive. The cave's 'cool bosome' where they can 'lye / Safe from the Sun' isn't subtle.

Damon counters every move with memento mori (remember you must die). Grass withers, flowers fade, the cave is virtue's grave, God sees everything. This back-and-forth creates the poem's structure: Clorinda offers physical pleasure, Damon responds with spiritual warning.

The turn comes at line 19: 'These once had been enticing things.' Past tense. Damon admits he *used to* find her arguments tempting. Then he explains what changed: 'The other day / Pan met me.' This is conversion language—a specific encounter that transformed how he sees the world. The same pastures, caves, and springs that Clorinda offers as sites of pleasure now function as sites of worship.

Pan as Christ Figure

CONTEXT In Renaissance pastoral poetry, Pan served double duty as both the pagan god of shepherds and a figure for Christ. The Greek phrase 'pan' (meaning 'all') made the connection theological: Christ as lord of all creation. Renaissance Christians read Virgil's Fourth Eclogue as accidentally prophesying Christ's birth, which authorized mixing Christian and classical pastoral.

Marvell uses this tradition precisely. When Damon says Pan spoke 'Words that transcend poor Shepherds skill,' he's describing religious experience beyond human language. Pan doesn't just inspire Damon's songs—'He ere since my Songs does fill.' This is the language of divine inspiration (literally: being filled with spirit).

The final chorus makes the Christian reading explicit. All of nature—'flowry Pastures,' 'Caves,' 'Fountains'—becomes 'our Pan's Quire.' This isn't pagan nature worship; it's the Christian idea that creation praises its creator. The poem transforms from failed seduction to successful evangelism: Clorinda's final question ('Who would not in Pan's Praises meet?') suggests she's been converted too. The duet becomes a chorus.