Critical Analysis of On A Drop Of Dew:

The poet describing the soul as a dew that drops down to earth from the
skies, lands onto the earth and falls prey to all the worldly pleasures that
crawl about on its surface. Marvell wants to preach his Platonic Christian
philosophy about simply awaiting to reunite with God through the given
lines in the poem. The dew’s actions of minimally attaching itself to the
petal that it’s being placed upon and its trembling for the chances of it being
impure are some of the few ideologies that we humans, like the soul,
should adopt so as to rekindle our connection with God. Marvell’s words
metaphysically embody the ideology of not being attached to the world’s
materialistic offerings so as to remain pure and attain peace until it is the
time to become one with the creator.
Central Idea of  On A Drop Of Dew :
The central idea of the poem includes the soul and the journey that it
embarks on before it becomes one with its creator. Marvell tells us of how
unhinged the soul can be of the earthly pleasures while it resides on earth
before ascending above. In this process, Marvell also conveys the purpose
of a soul, that is, to stay devoted to God throughout its journey over the
earth.
Tone of On A Drop Of Dew :
The poem begins with the dew that is a metaphysical translation of the soul
that descends onto the earth that is its mansion of earthly pleasures and
luxurious comforts. In line 4, the poet describes how careless the dew is of
its new environment that is the rose and meanwhile frames into its native
element that is water in line 8. It scarcely touches the petals upon which it
lies while it gazes above at the heavenly sky from where it had descended
while it all metaphorically seems like a tear that is shed by the soul.
   In line 15, the dew is restless for its reunion and rolls around eagerly also
in fear of growing impure from all the worldly attachments. The dew further
refrains from collecting light from the green leaves, as mentioned in line 23,
and recollects its own light instead.
  The intensity to unite with the heavens increases with each line as the
dew observes that it is dark beneath with disdain while it is bright above in
the skies with all the love that resides there. From line 37 onwards, the poet
describes how the dew finally distills from the heat to dissolve and once
again join the Almighty Sun as it leaves the earth behind it.
Summary of On A Drop Of Dew:
This poem written by the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell (1621- 78),
expands on the Platonic Christian influence over philosophies that
prevailed in that period. Marvell has enveloped the belief of the soul
awaiting reunion with its Almighty through a personification of the dew to be
the embodiment of the soul and the Sun to be that of God. The soul refuses
comfort from all that the materialistic universe has to offer and instead
awaits the time for it to be one with the heavens, which are personified by
the skies. This entire metaphysical poem illustrates the journey and the
duty of the soul disguised as the dew before it finally evaporates into the
sky of the Almighty. The beauty of this metaphysical literature is its method
of connecting the strong emotions of the dew to that of the soul to help the
readers relate to the philosophy that Marvell wanted to share. The soul
needs to be independent and self-sufficient like the dew that provides light
for itself despite the presence of the green leaves and the cosy petals of
the rose.
Critical Analysis of On A Drop Of Dew:
The poet describing the soul as a dew that drops down to earth from the
skies, lands onto the earth and falls prey to all the worldly pleasures that
crawl about on its surface. Marvell wants to preach his Platonic Christian
philosophy about simply awaiting to reunite with God through the given
lines in the poem. The dew’s actions of minimally attaching itself to the
petal that it’s being placed upon and its trembling for the chances of it being
impure are some of the few ideologies that we humans, like the soul,
should adopt so as to rekindle our connection with God. Marvell’s words
metaphysically embody the ideology of not being attached to the world’s
materialistic offerings so as to remain pure and attain peace until it is the
time to become one with the creator.