Magnanimous Despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing,
Where feeble Hope could ne'r have flown
But vainly flapt its Tinsel Wing.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended Soul is fixt,
But Fate does Iron wedges drive,
And alwaies crouds it self betwixt.
For Fate with jealous Eye does see
Two perfect Loves; nor lets them close:
Their union would her ruine be,
And her Tyrannick pow'r depose.
And therefore her Decrees of Steel
Us as the distant Poles have plac'd,
(Though Loves whole World on us doth wheel)
Not by themselves to be embrac'd.
Marvell neatly follows the reference to ‘Iron’ in stanza three with ‘Decrees of Steel’. Both are hard, unyielding metals. The ‘Decrees of Steel’ are therefore harsh imaginary ‘laws’ which will not allow pure lovers to unite.
The Definition of Love