Literature and politics in Cromwellian England : John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham / Blair Worden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Worden, Blair.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Milton, John, 1608-1674--Political and social views.

Milton, John.

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

Marvell, Andrew, 1621-1678--Political and social views.

Marvell, Andrew.

Marvell, Andrew, 1621-1678--Friends and associates.

Nedham, Marchamont, 1620-1678--Friends and associates.

Nedham, Marchamont.

Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658--Friends and associates.

Cromwell, Oliver.

Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658.

Nedham, Marchamont, 1620-1678.

Marvell, Andrew, 1621-1678.

Milton, John, 1608-1674.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Politics and literature.

Friends and associates.

Political and social views.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--History--Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660.

Physical Description:

xv, 458 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This book, by the pre-eminent historian of Cromwellian England, offers a fresh approach to the political lives of the two great poets of the Puritan Revolution, John Milton and Andrew Marvell. Blair Worden shows how differently their writing reads when its involvement in epochal events is historically reconstructed. We trace the responses of the two men to the execution of King Charles I; to the experience, unique in English history, of republican government; to the failure of that experiment; and to the rule of Oliver Cromwell, whose ascent, at the expense of king and parliament alike, inspired ambivalent sentiment in Milton and Marvell. Both authors underwent intensely felt changes of allegiance between the regicide and the Restoration. First we follow Marvell's gradual and painful transition from royalism to Cromwellianism. Then we examine Milton's entry into politics under the Commonwealth and the revisions of his perspective that followed it. We watch his difficult and disillusioning relationships with the successive regimes of the Interregnum, and view his engagement, in immortal poetry, with the collapse of Puritan rule. Our third author is Marvell's and Milton's common literary partner, and their colleague in government service at Whitehall, the political thinker and pioneering journalist Marchamont Nedham, whose writing shares and illuminates the preoccupation of the two more famous writers with the debates and dilemmas of that volatile era.

Contents:

1 Nedham 14

2 Milton and Nedham 31

3 Marvell and Nedham 54

4 Marvell in 1650 82

5 Marvell and the Ambassadors 116

6 Marvell and the First Anniversary 137

7 Milton and the Civil Wars 154

8 Milton and the New Order 180

9 Milton in Journalism 195

10 Milton and the Commonwealth 218

11 Milton and Cromwell 241

12 Milton's Second Defence 262

13 Milton and the Protectorate 289

14 Milton and the Good Old Cause 326

15 Milton and Samson Agonistes 358

16 Milton and the Fall of England 384

Appendix A Marvell and the Embassy of 1651 399

Appendix B Milton and Cromwell's Advisers 405

Appendix C The Composition of Milton's History of Britain 410.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780199230815

0199230811

OCLC:

153772764