Superlative. . . . The fullest portrait we have to date. -David Yezzi, The Wall Street Journal
-- David Yezzi * The Wall Street Journal *
Nigel Smith. . . has certainly mastered everything that can be learned about this elusive, shadowy and very private man. -Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
-- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *
Smith asks the right questions about Marvell's life and time, and he works assiduously in helping to lay 'a new foundation of the documentary knowledge.' . . . [A] worthy biography. -Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review -- Megan Buskey * The New York Times Book Review *
He offers the fullest available account of Marvell's political activities, fully contextualized. . . . [An] indispensible guide. -Paul Dean, The New Criterion -- Paul Dean * The New Criterion *
Nigel Smith attends skillfully to the poetry, but he also provides extensive information about the period as well as the complicated development of Marvell's political and religious views. . . . [Smith's] is probably the most complete biography of Marvell we are likely to see. -Jerome Donnelly, America -- Jerome Donnelly * America *
Smith delivers fresh insights into Marvell's experiences and character.... a fascinating psychological portrait of Marvell. -Helen Hackett, Times Literary Supplement -- Helen Hackett * Times Literary Supplement *
From reclusive poet to undercover pamphleteer, Andrew Marvell has always been a mystery man. But nobody knows him better than Nigel Smith, who now follows his definitive edition of the poetry with an up-to-date and state-of-the-art biography. -Annabel Patterson, Yale University -- Annabel Patterson
The remarkable depth of Nigel Smith's research makes new sense of a celebratedly elusive writer. -David Norbrook, author of Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance -- David Norbrook
`Nigel Smith's definitive biography of Marvell is a gripping read, opening up a world of surprisingly intense interactions between poetry and politics in England's most turbulent modern century. Smith brilliantly illuminates the two sides of Marvell's poetical character--the engaged, parliamentary brawler and controversialist, and the weirdly detached observer of the world--but he also shows how the mysteriousness of Marvell's character resides at last in the very independence and privacy for which Marvell so publicly fought. -Gordon Teskey, Harvard University -- Gordon Teskey
Rich in detail and impeccably lucid, this remarkable study allows us to understand the subtle poet and elusive politician as we never have before. If Marvell was a mirror to the world, as one of the book's sources says, Nigel Smith is the perfect guide to the mirror and its world, master of the difficult art of looking-glass history. -Michael Wood, Princeton University -- Michael Wood
'The chameleon that emerges from this badly needed, deeply researched study is not just the subtle lyricist familiar from the anthologies but a vigorous verse satirist and an ambitious prose controversialist, whose views still resonate today. Historical sleuthing and literary analysis combine brilliantly in this landmark account - the fullest, most wide-angle picture of Marvell ever produced. -John Kerrigan, Professor of English 2000, University of Cambridge -- John Kerrigan
Meticulously researched. . . this noteworthy study provides a suitable balance of historical context and literary criticism. -Library Journal
* Library Journal *
Smith makes an excellent case for the enduring power of Marvell's occasional poems and satires. -Adam Kirsch, Barnes and Noble Review
-- Adam Kirsch * Barnes and Noble Review *
[A] worthy biography. -Megan Buskey, The New York Times Book Review
-- Megan Buskey * The New York Times Book Review *
[An] exhaustive, shrewd, wary new biography...Thepoet as craft chameleon in Smith's smart and resonant readings is also the poet as skulking, threatened double agent. -Robert Polito, Bookforum -- Robert Polito * Bookforum *
[An] exhaustive, shrewd, wary new biography. -Robert Polito, Bookforum -- Robert Polito * Bookforum *
Engaging, intensely researched.... Smith is very good on the historical and political contexts surrounding Marvell.... Smith's book is a welcome contribution to Marvell studies. -Nick Laird, Daily Telegraph
-- Nick Laird * Daily Telegraph *
[An] illuminating study. -Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman
-- Michael Kerrigan * The Scotsman *
The result of Smith's scholarly close readings is a refreshed and refined sense of Marvell's poetry, and his biography should be a standard point of reference for future Marvellians. -John Stubbs, Literary Review -- John Stubbs * Literary Review *
Nigel Smith...has now filled [a] void with this authoritative Life. -Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard
-- Barton Swaim * The Weekly Standard *
It is an achievment of astonishing depth and equally impressive scope, covering a fascinating, complex period of English history. The book is must reading for early modern scholars. -M. Cole, CHOICE -- M. Cole * CHOICE *
Meticulously researched and scholarly in tone, this noteworthy study provides a suitable balance of historical context and literary criticism. Strongly recommended for students and general readers of 17th-century English literature and history. -Brian Odom, Library Journal -- Brian Odom * Library Journal *
Insightful, provocative. -Books and Culture * Books and Culture *
Smith's comprehensive study of Marvell's many guises will influence critical thinking for years to come. -A.D Cousins, Review of English Studies Vol.62 No.256 -- A.D Cousins * Review of English Studies Vol.62 No.256 *
Nigel Smith's massive effort . . . obviates the need for any further such survey of Marvell's life and art . . . [Smith's] grasp of seventeenth-century English history, politics, religion, society, is beyond impressive, and he is also a sensitive reader of poetry. -William H. Pritchard, The Hudson Review -- William H. Pritchard * The Hudson Review *
Nigel Smith... has now filled [a] void with this authoritative Life. -Barton Swaim, The Weekly Standard -- Barton Swaim * The Weekly Standard *
Smith's meticulous archival research . . . allows a portrait of the young Marvell to form from relatively few life records. . . . Smith is able to identify relationships between [the political ideas of the prose and the depictions of love and sexuality in the lyric poems] in provocative ways. -Curtis Whitaker, Huntington Library Quarterly -- Curtis Whitaker * Huntington Library Quarterly *
Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the English and American category. -- Choice Outstanding Academic Title * Choice *
This context of danger, where revelations of identity can mean a beheading, permeates the poet's literary as well as his political work, as this scholarly biography shows. -Sunday Herald (Glasgow) * Sunday Herald (Glasgow) *
Shortlisted for the 2011 HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize -- HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize Shortlist * Biographers' Club *
A highly laudatory biography of the republican poet who praised regicides, hated Catholics and exposed in memorable verse corruption in those places he chose to investigate. -Contemporary Review * Contemporary Review *
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