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 58
Page 3
... royal grants of monopoly , and even , in 1640 , his seizure of the gold that London merchants had deposited at the mint for safekeeping . ' To Charles I's opponents , these and other unpopular acts were examples of arbitrary government ...
... royal grants of monopoly , and even , in 1640 , his seizure of the gold that London merchants had deposited at the mint for safekeeping . ' To Charles I's opponents , these and other unpopular acts were examples of arbitrary government ...
Page 11
... royal entry of 1661 but in the panegyrics that they published from Charles II's restoration to the appearance in print of Dryden's Annus Mirabilis . One of their central claims was that force and commerce , Crown and City , could ...
... royal entry of 1661 but in the panegyrics that they published from Charles II's restoration to the appearance in print of Dryden's Annus Mirabilis . One of their central claims was that force and commerce , Crown and City , could ...
Page 17
... royal marriage . By dancing in these masques , the king and his Catholic queen affirmed that spiritual truths must be embodied in spec- tacle and ritual , that political ideals must be identified with personal loyal- ties , and that ...
... royal marriage . By dancing in these masques , the king and his Catholic queen affirmed that spiritual truths must be embodied in spec- tacle and ritual , that political ideals must be identified with personal loyal- ties , and that ...
Page 27
... royal prerogative to grant patents of monopoly for manufactures not only to protect new industrial processes but to favor loyal courtiers and their clients with royal bounty . * Because patentees and chartered trading companies were ...
... royal prerogative to grant patents of monopoly for manufactures not only to protect new industrial processes but to favor loyal courtiers and their clients with royal bounty . * Because patentees and chartered trading companies were ...
Page 46
... royal backing , but the free flow of ideas . While Bacon is likely to blame the poor state of truth on the wayward judgment of the vulgar masses , Milton blames it on Typhon and his conspirators — on the willful distortion of powerful ...
... royal backing , but the free flow of ideas . While Bacon is likely to blame the poor state of truth on the wayward judgment of the vulgar masses , Milton blames it on Typhon and his conspirators — on the willful distortion of powerful ...
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