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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 34
Page 3
... common wealth and private commodity . For " what else makes a Common - wealth , " he asked in a question that would echo throughout the century , “ but the private- wealth , if I may so say , of the members therof in the exercise of Com ...
... common wealth and private commodity . For " what else makes a Common - wealth , " he asked in a question that would echo throughout the century , “ but the private- wealth , if I may so say , of the members therof in the exercise of Com ...
Page 6
... common treasury , prices were eliminated , and the " crafty Art of buying and selling " were abandoned.20 It need hardly be said that Winstanley's proposals , some of which he addressed to Oliver Cromwell , did not win wide assent ; but ...
... common treasury , prices were eliminated , and the " crafty Art of buying and selling " were abandoned.20 It need hardly be said that Winstanley's proposals , some of which he addressed to Oliver Cromwell , did not win wide assent ; but ...
Page 14
... common vocabulary with which writers could articulate such insights be- came at once more varied and more precise as the century progressed , and their notions of what constituted the proper subject of epideictic , histori- cal , and ...
... common vocabulary with which writers could articulate such insights be- came at once more varied and more precise as the century progressed , and their notions of what constituted the proper subject of epideictic , histori- cal , and ...
Page 29
... common and diffu- sive a good thing is , the better it is , " they asserted that driving the public into private hands , even when those hands were united in a company , was unhealthy for the domestic body politic.17 Even more important ...
... common and diffu- sive a good thing is , the better it is , " they asserted that driving the public into private hands , even when those hands were united in a company , was unhealthy for the domestic body politic.17 Even more important ...
Page 37
... common law cases on monopo- lies in mind . Coke had summarized these in his report on “ The Case of Monopolies " ( Darcy v Allen ) and in the second and third parts of the In- stitutes . He had pronounced that even corporate grants by ...
... common law cases on monopo- lies in mind . Coke had summarized these in his report on “ The Case of Monopolies " ( Darcy v Allen ) and in the second and third parts of the In- stitutes . He had pronounced that even corporate grants by ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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