The arms of the family : the significance of John Milton's relatives and associates / John T. Shawcross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shawcross, John T.

Contributor:

Stuart Curran-Joseph Wittreich Milton Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Milton, John, 1608-1674--Family.

Milton, John.

Milton, John, 1608-1674--Friends and associates.

Milton, John, 1608-1674.

Poets, English--Early modern, 1500-1700--Biography.

Poets, English.

Poets, English--Early modern--Biography.

Poets, English--Early modern, 1500-1700--Family relationships.

Families.

Poets, English--Early modern.

Friends and associates.

Great Britain--History--Stuarts, 1603-1714--Biography.

Great Britain.

History.

Royalists--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Royalists.

Milton, Christopher, Sir, 1615-1693.

Milton, Christopher.

Phillips, Edward, 1630-1696?.

Phillips, Edward.

Phillips, John, 1631-1706.

Phillips, John.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Curran, Stuart A. (honoree) (Milton Collection copy)

Wittreich, Joseph Anthony (donor) (Milton Collection copy)

Physical Description:

vii, 304 pages : genealogical table ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lexington : University Press of Kentucky, [2004]

Summary:

Among the most celebrated figures in British literature, John Milton has inspired legions of poets and essayists. Milton's poetry and prose reflect both the exhilaration of the Renaissance and the bloody discord of the English Civil War as perceived through the eyes of a Protestant with republican ideals. This combination of prodigious talent and the mercurial era from which it emerged has made Milton a frequent subject of literary biographers. Compelled by the desire to understand Milton as purely the product of his historical milieu, biographers have neglected the domestic and personal influences on his life and art. While many biographies have examined Milton's life in the context of the political, social, and religious attitudes in Britain during the tumultuous seventeenth century, very few facts of the poet's private life are known. The Arms of the Family amplifies author John T. Shawcross's earlier investigation of Milton's personal relationships and attitudes in his biography, John Milton: The Self and the World. Unlike any other scholar, Shawcross introduces a crucial element previously neglected by biographers: the role that family and friends played in sculpting the revered author.

The family was a key factor in Milton's personal and artistic development, Shawcross argues, shaping his identity and influencing his opinions, expectations, and actions. The Arms of the Family is an unprecedented exploration into the lives of Milton's relatives and family associates and the ways that their political and theological opinions may have affected Milton's literary and political thought. Shawcross explodes half-truths and misconceptions about Milton with primary, archival evidence from court hearings, debts, wills, and other public records pertaining to the poet and his relatives. This new research reveals the unexplored contours of Milton's relationships with his children and nephews, his financial activities, and his interactions with the unpredictable English government. Some of the author's most stimulating insights concern the Parliamentarian poet's interaction with his Royalist family members and connections, among them his own brother Christopher, his brother-in-law Thomas Agar, and John Scudamore, Charles I's ambassador to France. As the first comprehensive examination of the family and friends that molded Milton's perception of the world throughout his life, The Arms of the Family adds an essential new dimension to our understanding of the poet and his work.

Contents:

Part 1. Expanding the Biography 11

Chapter 1. Christopher Milton: Royalist and Brother 13

Chapter 2. Thomas Agar: Royalist and Brother-in-Law 47

Chapter 3. Edward Phillips: Royalist (?) and Nephew 73

Chapter 4. John Phillips: Nonroyalist and Nephew 95

Part 2. John Milton 135

Chapter 5. Royalist Connections, but Parliamentarian 137

Chapter 6. Protestant and Familial Literary Implications 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [261]-287) and index.

Local Notes:

Milton Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries by Joseph A. Wittreich in honor of Stuart A. Curran.

Penn Libraries Milton Collection copy: dust jacket retained.

ISBN:

0813122910

OCLC:

52312092