Oracles of Empire : Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750 / David S. Shields.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shields, David S., 1951- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American poetry--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--History and criticism.

American poetry.

Political poetry, American--History and criticism.

Political poetry, American.

Imperialism in literature.

Commerce in literature.

Colonies in literature.

United States--Intellectual life--18th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 295 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2010]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This innovative look at previously neglected poetry in British America represents a major contribution to our understanding of early American culture. Spanning the period from the Glorious Revolution (1690) to the end of King George's War (1750), this study critically reconstitutes the literature of empire in the thirteen colonies, Canada, and the West Indies by investigating over 300 texts in mixed print and manuscript sources, including poems in pamphlets and newspapers. British America's poetry of empire was dominated by three issues: mercantilism's promise that civilization and wealth would be transmitted from London to the provinces; the debate over the extent of metropolitan prerogatives in law and commerce when they obtruded upon provincial rights and interests; and the argument that Britain's imperium pelagi was an ethical empire, because it depended upon the morality of trade, while the empires of Spain and France were immoral empires because they were grounded upon conquest. In discussing these issues, Shields provides a virtual anthology of poems long lost to students of American literature.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. The Issue of Empire in the Literary Self-Understanding of British Americans

1 . The Literary Topology of Mercantilism

2. The Tide of Empire

3. The Material Redeemers

4. Staples

5. The Problem of the Prerogative

6. The Paper Wars in Massachusetts

7. The Spread of Boston Principles

8. Empire of Evil

9. Gallic Perfidy

10. The Tenuousness of Imperial Identity

Notes

Bibliography of Primary Sources

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226752990

0226752992

OCLC:

1135582390