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

by Worden, Blair

• ISBN13: 9780199230815
• ISBN10: 0199230811
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-02-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this book the pre-eminent history 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.

Author Biography

Blair Worden is Professor of History at Royal Holloway College London.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Nedham	p. 14
Milton and Nedham	p. 31
Marvell and Nedham	p. 54
Marvell in 1650	p. 82
Marvell and the Ambassadors	p. 116
Marvell and the First Anniversary	p. 137
Milton and the Civil Wars	p. 154
Milton and the New Order	p. 180
Milton in Journalism	p. 195
Milton and the Commonwealth	p. 218
Milton and Cromwell	p. 241
Milton's Second Defence	p. 262
Milton and the Protectorate	p. 289
Milton and the Good Old Cause	p. 326
Milton and Samson Agonistes	p. 358
Milton and the Fall of England	p. 384
Marvell and the Embassy of 1651	p. 399
Milton and Cromwell's Advisers	p. 405
The Composition of Milton's History of Britain	p. 410
List of Works Cited	p. 427
Index	p. 443
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