Marvell and Parliament

Andrew Marvell represented Hull in Parliament for more than eighteen years. The record of his actual activity in Parliament is slight, and his political importance can, as a result, seem slight, at least compared to his significance as a satirist. Yet as well as his well-documented behind-the-scenes activity on behalf of Hull, Marvell’s parliamentary record can be interpreted as that of a very important fixer and strategist on behalf of the ‘Presbyterians’ in the Commons, a group which he did much to define and possibly also to call into existence. Analysis of Marvell’s ‘Last Instructions to a Painter’ suggests that it may be not just a polemical and satirical description of a debate, but also intended as a means of rallying some of the disparate elements of an opposition to the court. It, and Marvell’s other political writings, emphasize how central Parliament was to his thought.