Mammon's Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of MiltonYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 336 pages The commercial revolution of the seventeenth century deeply changed English culture. In this ambitious book, Blair Hoxby explores what that economic transformation meant to the century’s greatest poet, John Milton, and to the broader literary tradition in which he worked. Hoxby places Milton’s work—as well as the writings of contemporary reformers like the Levellers, poets like John Dryden, and political economists like Sir William Petty—within the framework of England’s economic history between 1601 and 1724. Literary history swerved in this period, Hoxby demonstrates, as a burgeoning economic discourse pressed authors to reimagine ideas about self, community, and empire. Hoxby shows that, contrary to commonly held views, Milton was a sophisticated economic thinker. Close readings of Milton’s prose and verse reveal the importance of economic ideas in a wide range of his most famous writings, from Areopagitica to Samson Agonistes to Paradise Lost. |
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Page 3
... able to rely on its trade in white cloths , which were in less and less demand . Whereas articulate opinion had once identified the commonwealth's interests with social harmony , it now identified them more closely with advances in ...
... able to rely on its trade in white cloths , which were in less and less demand . Whereas articulate opinion had once identified the commonwealth's interests with social harmony , it now identified them more closely with advances in ...
Page 20
... able of the talents ( Matt . 25 : 14–30 ) , in which a master praises those ser- vants who “ traded ” with the talents he gave them and casts into outer darkness the unprofitable servant who hid his talent in the earth . The par- able ...
... able of the talents ( Matt . 25 : 14–30 ) , in which a master praises those ser- vants who “ traded ” with the talents he gave them and casts into outer darkness the unprofitable servant who hid his talent in the earth . The par- able ...
Page 26
... exchange that were likeliest to generate truth without bound . In Areopagitica , Milton was able for the first time to reconcile his hu- manist and millenarian values with a subset of the century's 26 VIRTUE , COMMERCE , TRUTH.
... exchange that were likeliest to generate truth without bound . In Areopagitica , Milton was able for the first time to reconcile his hu- manist and millenarian values with a subset of the century's 26 VIRTUE , COMMERCE , TRUTH.
Page 49
... able to collude to beat down prices.81 If invention , innovation , and skill were what England's economy needed , then restrictions on the flow of ideas and information could be seen as a real threat to the advance- ment of trade . Most ...
... able to collude to beat down prices.81 If invention , innovation , and skill were what England's economy needed , then restrictions on the flow of ideas and information could be seen as a real threat to the advance- ment of trade . Most ...
Page 50
... able to those who were " in the dark ” about “ what good things are extant in private , or publickly attainable for Vse " or who lacked the wherewithal to " encounter readily and certainly with them . " 84 Wenceslaus Hollar's en ...
... able to those who were " in the dark ” about “ what good things are extant in private , or publickly attainable for Vse " or who lacked the wherewithal to " encounter readily and certainly with them . " 84 Wenceslaus Hollar's en ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
57 | |
Part Three Force Commerce and Empire | 125 |
Part Four The Meaning of Work | 201 |
Conclusion | 233 |
Abbreviations | 253 |
Notes | 255 |
Index | 311 |
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Amboyna Amsterdam Annus Mirabilis arch Areopagitica argued arguments Benjamin Worsley Book Cambridge University Press century chap chapter Charles Davenant Charles II Charles II's City claim commercial common Commonwealth Comus Comus's contemporary Court Crown Davenant Davenant's discourse Dryden Dutch early Stuarts East India Company economic empire England English Englishmen entrepôt epic force and commerce free trade George Wither Gerbier ideal Indies industry interest James John king labor liberty lines London Lord Masque merchants Milton monarchy monopolists monopoly nation natural naval nomic Oxford pamphlet panegyrics Paradise Lost Parliament Philistines poem poem's poets policies political Princeton Puritan Readie and Easie reformers religious republicans Restoration Revolution royal entry Royalist Rump Rump's Samson Agonistes Satan Second Anglo-Dutch Second Anglo-Dutch War ships Sir William slavery slaves subjects suggest texts thir Third Anglo-Dutch War Thomas tion Towerson tracts tradition truth United Provinces verse vision vols Waller wealth