Marvell: The Writer in Public Life. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, July, 2000

Marvell: The Writer in Public Life. Annabel Patterson. Longman. [pound]60.00 h.b. and [pound]19.99 p.b. 189 pages. ISBN 0-582-35676-8 h.b. and 0-582-35675-X p.b. This title is part of the 'Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library', a collection of 'critical introductions to key literary and cultural topics from Old English to the late seventeenth century'.

It is a revised form of the author's 1978 study of Marvell and has both a new introduction and a thoroughly revised text. In her earlier version the author argued that Marvell's political writings were as important as his literary ones. Here she also emphasises his grammar, style and borrowings from other writers. In addition to a biographical chapter there are chapters devoted to his elegies, his devotional poetry, satires (where she credits Marvell with the authorship of two Restoration satires), pamphlet wars, and a final chapter entitled 'The Naked Truth of History' in which she discusses two anonymous political pamphlets written by Marvell.