drop of dew
...ies lurking on the ground. The sun "pities" the dew’s "pain." It "exhales" the dew back up to the sky. The dewdrops "shun" earthly beauty to ascend into the heavens. In the last line, the dewdrop has "run" from the cold earth to the warm "Almighty" sun. Marvell uses this prominent personification in conjunction with an extended metaphor to create the primary theme of the poem. The poem describes a literal event: the water cycle. Dew or rain builds up in the clouds and falls to earth only to evaporate and go back into the atmosphere. However, the poem becomes more meaningful due to the use of personification. This gives the writing a figurative sense. Marvell is prompting the reader to find the implied significance of this event. A religious version of the life cycle is built by using an extended metaphor in which the water cycle represents life. A single dewdrop is compared to a single human soul. Personification links the lifeless dewdrops to a living soul. The drops were "born" from the sky just as a soul is born into a body and sent down to earth from heaven. Life on earth is described as "mournful," dewdrops are "tears" and the soul is restless and longs to be in the heavens again. Line 19 is a very direct metaphor–"So the Soul, that Drop…"–that is used, perhaps, to act as a conspicuous key to the poem’s real meaning. The sun symbolizes God. The rain came down amidst rays of sun, as a soul supposedly descends from heaven and from God’s arms. The sun dries the dew and draws the water back into the sky. God kills man and lets the soul return to heaven. Just as there is a d...