...she might laurel grow ; And Pan did after Syrinx speed, Not as a nymph, but for a reed. VOL. II. C c What wondrous life is this I lead ! Ripe apples drop about my head ; The luscious clusters of a vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine ; The nectarine, and curious peach, Into my hands themselves...

...she might laurel grow ; And Pan did after Syrinx speed, Not as a nymph, but for a reed. VOL. IL C c What wondrous life is this I lead ! Ripe apples drop about my head ; The luscious clusters of a vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine ; The nectarine, and curious peach, Into my hands themselves...

...old poet of Puritanism. They lead also to that "Garden" about which he penned this exquisite poem. "What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop...themselves do reach: Stumbling on melons as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass, "Here at this fountain's sliding foot, Or at the fruit tree's...

...drop about my head; The Luscious Clusters of the Vine Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine; The Nectaren, and curious Peach, Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on Melons, as I pass, Insnar'd with Flow'rs, I fall on Grass. (ll. 33-40) The alternative universal history of the contemplative...

...pate, the coolest possible draughting of white wine in the sun. It reminded me of Andrew Marvell— What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe Apples drop...Clusters of the Vine Upon my mouth do crush their Wine... As it happens nobody could be much less pretentious about food and wine than my epicurean host that...

...Eternity. The Grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace.2 What wond'rous Life in this I lead! Ripe Apples drop about my head; The Luscious...of the Vine Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine; The Nectaren, and curious Peach, Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on Melons, as I pass, Insnar'd...

...have their analogues in Marvell's account of physical pleasure in 'The Garden': What wond'rous Life in this I lead! Ripe Apples drop about my head; The Luscious...of the Vine Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine; The Nectaren, and curious Peach, Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on Melons, as I pass, Insnar'd...

...30 Only that she might laurel grow. And Pan did after Syrinx speed, Not as a nymph, but for a reed. What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop...themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, 40 Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass. 6 Meanwhile the mind, from pleasures less, Withdraws into...

...almost aggressively forces itself upon the stroller in Marveil's rather better-known poem, The Garden': Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious clusters...themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass." The element of threat in the more secular poem would be out...

...quite conscious here. But what of these lines from Andrew Marvell's 'The Garden'? What wondrous life in this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious...clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine. (33-6) Whether or not this is a Spenserian allusion,9 it exploits a trait of style that in Spenser's...