Marvell and Milton : Poets in a Fallen World

John Milton and Andrew Marvell are central figures of seventeenth-century literature. Yet there has until now been no sustained study comparing the two poets. In this book, the culmination of a distinguished academic career, Warren Chernaik places the two writers side-by-side and reveals their striking similarities and differences.

Both John Milton and Andrew Marvell have been revaluated in recent years. Yet this is the first sustained scholarly work to compare the two great seventeenth-century poets. In his new book, which stands as the culmination of a distinguished academic career, Warren Chernaik examines the relationship of the two writers and their complex responses to their troubled times. The poets were close friends, yet the trajectory of their careers and their posthumous reputations differed significantly. As well as taking an active part in the major political and religious upheavals of their times, both poets engaged seriously with classical, Christian and humanist thought. Combining close readings of their poetry and prose with detailed consideration of historical and intellectual context, Chernaik sheds fresh light on the enduring works of poets whose words still resonate strongly with today's readers.