The life of poet Andrew Marvell (1621-78) has often seemed puzzling and enigmatic. In this biography, he emerges as an important figure in the political as well as the poetic life of his time.
The gaps in Marvell’s correspondence have sometimes been attributed to nervousness on the part of recipients about their contents, though there is little evidence of even an approach to politically compromising frankness in those official letters that do survive. The loss of letters also resulted...
Today he has been let down by his builders. Their failure to arrive has thwarted the next phase of his work. He is waiting for them to break open the frontage to create a set of folding glass panels. Without them, he is becalmed, tasting a very unusual hour or two of leisure. This is so rare as t...