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
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Page 1
... verse . In an effort to assess Milton's achievement with a measure of historical precision , I read his writings against texts written by his immediate contemporaries , including the Levellers , the Hartlib circle , Sir William Davenant ...
... verse . In an effort to assess Milton's achievement with a measure of historical precision , I read his writings against texts written by his immediate contemporaries , including the Levellers , the Hartlib circle , Sir William Davenant ...
Page 5
... 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 Bacon , of ...
... 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 Bacon , of ...
Page 13
... verse , Milton seems peculiarly conscious both of the difficulty of imagining any sys- tem of economic relations that would be safe from such dangers and of the social and personal losses that would inevitably result from forgoing all ...
... verse , Milton seems peculiarly conscious both of the difficulty of imagining any sys- tem of economic relations that would be safe from such dangers and of the social and personal losses that would inevitably result from forgoing all ...
Page 14
... verse changed . By looking ahead to such figures as Bernard Mandeville and Daniel Defoe in my Conclusion , I hope to clarify that trajectory even in the literature of the mid - seventeenth century . Yet if many of the texts that I ...
... verse changed . By looking ahead to such figures as Bernard Mandeville and Daniel Defoe in my Conclusion , I hope to clarify that trajectory even in the literature of the mid - seventeenth century . Yet if many of the texts that I ...
Page 48
... verse referred to their " clandestine wayes , " their habit of blinding " the peoples eyes " like " Egyptian flies , " and their " cozen- ing secrets and underhand dealings in the pursuance of their patent . " Theirs was the sort of ...
... verse referred to their " clandestine wayes , " their habit of blinding " the peoples eyes " like " Egyptian flies , " and their " cozen- ing secrets and underhand dealings in the pursuance of their patent . " Theirs was the sort of ...
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