Literature and politics in Cromwellian England : John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Literature and politics in Cromwellian England : John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham

Blair Worden

Oxford University Press, 2009

  • : pbk.

Available at  / 4 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-441) and index

"First published in paperback 2009"--T.p. verso

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In this book a pre-eminent historian of Cromwellian England takes a fresh approach to the literary biography of the two great poets of the Puritan Revolution, John Milton and Andrew Marvell. Blair Worden reconstructs the political contexts within which Milton and Marvell wrote, and reassesses their writings against the background of volatile and dramatic changes of public mood and circumstance. Two figures are shown to have been prominent in their minds. First there is Oliver Cromwell, on whose character and decisions the future of the Puritan Revolution and of the nation rested, and whose ascent the two writers traced and assessed, in both cases with an acute ambivalence. The second is Marchamont Nedham, the pioneering journalist of the civil wars, a close friend of Milton and a man whose writings prove to be intimately linked to Marvell's. The high achievements of Milton and Marvell are shown to belong to world of pressing political debate which Nedham's ephemeral publications helped to shape. The book follows Marvell's transition from royalism to Cromwellianism. In Milton's case we explore the profound effect on his outlook brought by the execution of King Charles I in 1649; his difficult and disillusioning relationship with the successive regimes of the Interregnum; and his attempt to come to terms, in his immortal poetry of the Restoration, with the failure of Puritan rule.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • 1. Nedham
  • 2. Milton and Nedham
  • 3. Marvell and Nedham
  • 4. Marvell in 1650
  • 5. Marvell and the Ambassadors
  • 6. Marvell and the First Anniversary
  • 7. Milton and the Civil Wars
  • 8. Milton and the New Order
  • 9. Milton in Journalism
  • 10. Milton and the Commonwealth
  • 11. Milton and Cromwell
  • 12. Milton's Second Defence
  • 13. Milton and the Protectorate
  • 14. Milton and the Good Old Cause
  • 15. Milton and Samson Agonistes
  • 16. Milton and the Fall of England
  • Appendix A: Milton and the Embassy of 1651
  • Appendix B: Milton and Cromwell's Advisers
  • Appendix C: The Composition of Milton's History of Britain

by "Nielsen BookData"

Page Top