Literature and Politics in Cromwellian England: John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham / Edition 2

by Blair Worden

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199230822
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Nedham2. Milton and Nedham3. Marvell and Nedham4. Marvell in 16505. Marvell and the Ambassadors6. Marvell and the First Anniversary7. Milton and the Civil Wars8. Milton and the New Order9. Milton in Journalism10. Milton and the Commonwealth11. Milton and Cromwell12. Milton's Second Defence13. Milton and the Protectorate14. Milton and the Good Old Cause15. Milton and iSamson Agonistes/i16. Milton and the Fall of EnglandAppendix A: Milton and the Embassy of 1651Appendix B: Milton and Cromwell's AdvisersAppendix C: The Composition of Milton's iHistory of Britain/i

Editorial Reviews

"Our understanding of Milton, Marvell and Nedham is quite simply transformed by Worden's brilliance as a reader of their texts and by his extraordinary ability to use their connections and divergences one with another and with a wider group of kindred spirits.... The cover hails Worden as 'the pre-eminent historian of Crowellian England'. This book secures that reputation."—John Morrill, BBC History Magazine

From the Publisher