Ideally, we want our lives to lead upwards trajectories. When somebody hits particular heights for themselves, they struggle to contemplate living within or below that potential. That’s the intricate psychology of accomplishment. … More New Horizons
Since we cannot turn back time, we have no choice but to deal with our life-defining moments. They cannot be undone. … More Facing a Challenge
Ekphrasis becomes a common feature of Marvell’s Interregnum writing, but before it served his Cromwellian verse, these perspective features – of viewing and reflection, of the viewer and beyond – combine in a remarkable way in Marvell’s Upon Appleton House. … More Marvell, Glass, and ‘Upon Appleton House’
A few concerned observations on what media revolutions in the 1640s and 2000s mean for ‘friendship’. … More Media Revolutions and “Friends”
A poem of inexperience gone wrong, or experience writ large? Thoughts on Andrew Marvell’s ‘seduction’ poem, ‘To His Coy Mistress’. … More ‘To His Coy Mistress’? To Her Coy Master
This recent period has been plagued with privacy issues, the biggest of which, no doubt, has been the issue of super-injunctions and the exercising of parliamentary privilege. So, what is parliamentary privilege? … More Privacy and Parliamentary Privilege
A short comparison of Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’ and Christina Rossetti’s ‘In the Willow Shade’. … More Brands of Solitude: Poets and their Nature
How Doctor Who brings to light one of Andrew Marvell’s most touching moments – his lines on the passing of Oliver Cromwell’s daughter. … More The Broken Image
A summary of research activity from January-March 2011. This features a lecture by Nigel Smith at the Andrew Marvell Centre in Hull; a teaching event at the University of York; and the biannual British Milton Seminar at Birmingham Central Library.
People ask why I am fascinated by writing of the English Civil War. I think it’s because of the striking relevance it strikes with the modern age as we know it. … More Solitariness: A Sweet Side-Note
Writing Privacy 