Named source · 1681

The Definition of Love Quotes by Andrew Marvell: Context & Meanings

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But ours so truly parallel, Though infinite can never meet.

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“But ours so truly parallel, Though infinite can never meet.”

Andrew Marvell

Meaning & context

The speaker compares two perfectly aligned but separated lovers to parallel lines, making impossibility rather than lack of feeling the defining feature of the relationship.

Source details

“The Definition of Love,” posthumously published in Miscellaneous Poems (1681), represented by Representative Poetry Online. The mathematical image belongs to a metaphysical lyric in which Fate prevents the lovers’ union.

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