‘Some great prelate of the grove’: London and Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, 1650–1652

This chapter delves deeply into Marvell’s stay (1650–1652) at the Yorkshire estate of Nun Appleton as tutor to Mary Fairfax, daughter of Thomas Lord Fairfax, late Captain General of the parliamentary armies. It was during this time that Marvell wrote much of his most famous poetry. ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’, ‘Tom May’s Death’, ‘Upon Appleton House’, and ‘The Garden’ are considered at length in this chapter.