Justus Lipsius, Andrew Marvell, and Epistolary Style

Abstract

While Marvell’s letters provide an invaluable resource for Marvell’s life and milieu, they also must be understood as carefully crafted artifacts in their own right, illuminating in their artistry as well as in the information they convey. This essay demonstrates the influence of the Epistolica Institutio (1591), by Belgian humanist Justus Lipsius, on Marvell’s approach to letter-writing, especially in the ways in which Marvell accommodates his stylistic choices to specific rhetorical occasions. Throughout his correspondence, Marvell adheres to the Lipsian definition of the familiar letter and employs various stylistic gambits to further his purposes. His May – June 1663 constituency correspondence, for example, reveals a high level of rhetorical strategizing, in keeping with Lipsian principles, as Marvell attempts to ease his Hull Corporation patrons into the prospect of his participation in the Carlisle embassy to Russia later in the year. Meanwhile, Marvell’s August 1667 letter of condolence to John Trott illustrates the close relationship between style and the Lipsian prescription that a letter can be simply a bearer of feeling as well as of news. In light of their often hidden artistry, letter-writing likely served as a source of pleasure for Marvell during his private moments, in much the same way that writing poems did.