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 5
... contemporary verse and prose.17 The economic thought that appeared in these auspicious conditions is remarkable for its range and diversity . Writers like Benjamin Worsley and Sir William Petty , both of whom dreamed , like Sir Francis ...
... contemporary verse and prose.17 The economic thought that appeared in these auspicious conditions is remarkable for its range and diversity . Writers like Benjamin Worsley and Sir William Petty , both of whom dreamed , like Sir Francis ...
Page 10
... contemporary events or strains of discourse these works seem either to invoke as their own context or to suppress with a bad conscience.35 I believe this is the best way to honor literature's ambition and capacity to serve as an active ...
... contemporary events or strains of discourse these works seem either to invoke as their own context or to suppress with a bad conscience.35 I believe this is the best way to honor literature's ambition and capacity to serve as an active ...
Page 12
... contemporary readers , this ap- proach should help us see why Milton refuses to reassure readers of a divine authority responsible for Samson's “ rouzing motions . ” What is at stake is nothing less than the formative influence of ...
... contemporary readers , this ap- proach should help us see why Milton refuses to reassure readers of a divine authority responsible for Samson's “ rouzing motions . ” What is at stake is nothing less than the formative influence of ...
Page 25
... contemporary arguments in favor of free trade , or to the expository burden of the commercial imagery in his tract.1 That neglect has not only hindered our ability to chart the progress of Milton's eco- nomic thought between A Maske ...
... contemporary arguments in favor of free trade , or to the expository burden of the commercial imagery in his tract.1 That neglect has not only hindered our ability to chart the progress of Milton's eco- nomic thought between A Maske ...
Page 44
... contemporary descrip- tions of the shopkeepers who agitated for reformation in the early 1640s . London's merchants and tradesmen went on strike in 1642 to protest the king's actions , and they closed their shops when presenting ...
... contemporary descrip- tions of the shopkeepers who agitated for reformation in the early 1640s . London's merchants and tradesmen went on strike in 1642 to protest the king's actions , and they closed their shops when presenting ...
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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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