- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804783620
- eISBN:
- 9780804784580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804783620.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter explores the whole spectrum of available venues and genres in which political ideas were expressed and through which the English people received and contributed to their general ...
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This chapter explores the whole spectrum of available venues and genres in which political ideas were expressed and through which the English people received and contributed to their general political culture from the reign of Elizabeth to just prior to the transformation of 1688. Genres or forms of expression offer a useful window for exploring political life. The term “genre” is used to indicate a recognizable form of expression typically following a set of known rhetorical features. This study addresses the channels of early modern English political culture. The period focused upon in this book is 1558–1688. Deeply held religious beliefs, identifications, and habits of mind were embedded elements of the English political culture in which the genres of political expression were at play. Finally, an overview of the chapters included in this book is given.Less
This chapter explores the whole spectrum of available venues and genres in which political ideas were expressed and through which the English people received and contributed to their general political culture from the reign of Elizabeth to just prior to the transformation of 1688. Genres or forms of expression offer a useful window for exploring political life. The term “genre” is used to indicate a recognizable form of expression typically following a set of known rhetorical features. This study addresses the channels of early modern English political culture. The period focused upon in this book is 1558–1688. Deeply held religious beliefs, identifications, and habits of mind were embedded elements of the English political culture in which the genres of political expression were at play. Finally, an overview of the chapters included in this book is given.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804783620
- eISBN:
- 9780804784580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804783620.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter looks at history plays and tragedies. It pays attention to the changing link between English historical writing and the dramatic treatment of historical events. It specifically analyzes ...
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This chapter looks at history plays and tragedies. It pays attention to the changing link between English historical writing and the dramatic treatment of historical events. It specifically analyzes the role of drama in early modern English political culture. Poetry, and therefore drama, was considered as a powerful force for moral and political reform. The masque on the ruler was regarded as divine authority and a beneficent source of wealth and peace. The outbreak of the civil war resulted in the diminution and the surcease of the masque. Numerous plays between 1678 and 1682 have evidenced the conflicting ideologies of the emerging Whigs and Tories. It is observed that Roman plays showed the contrasting vision of republican and imperial regimes and values. Changes in the political climate may have then transformed a politically innocuous play into a dangerous one or vice versa.Less
This chapter looks at history plays and tragedies. It pays attention to the changing link between English historical writing and the dramatic treatment of historical events. It specifically analyzes the role of drama in early modern English political culture. Poetry, and therefore drama, was considered as a powerful force for moral and political reform. The masque on the ruler was regarded as divine authority and a beneficent source of wealth and peace. The outbreak of the civil war resulted in the diminution and the surcease of the masque. Numerous plays between 1678 and 1682 have evidenced the conflicting ideologies of the emerging Whigs and Tories. It is observed that Roman plays showed the contrasting vision of republican and imperial regimes and values. Changes in the political climate may have then transformed a politically innocuous play into a dangerous one or vice versa.
Barbara J. Shapiro
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804783620
- eISBN:
- 9780804784580
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804783620.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This book surveys the channels through which political ideas and knowledge were conveyed to the English people from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I to the Revolution of 1688. It argues that ...
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This book surveys the channels through which political ideas and knowledge were conveyed to the English people from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I to the Revolution of 1688. It argues that an assessment of English political culture requires an examination of all means by which this culture was expressed and communicated. While the discussion focuses primarily on genres such as the sermon, newsbook, poetry, and drama, it also considers the role of events and institutions. This book explores and elucidates the entire web of communication in early modern English political life.Less
This book surveys the channels through which political ideas and knowledge were conveyed to the English people from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth I to the Revolution of 1688. It argues that an assessment of English political culture requires an examination of all means by which this culture was expressed and communicated. While the discussion focuses primarily on genres such as the sermon, newsbook, poetry, and drama, it also considers the role of events and institutions. This book explores and elucidates the entire web of communication in early modern English political life.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804783620
- eISBN:
- 9780804784580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804783620.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter concentrates on news and other forms of information and printed polemic with the aim of showing the extent to which the English were informed about personalities and events of political ...
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This chapter concentrates on news and other forms of information and printed polemic with the aim of showing the extent to which the English were informed about personalities and events of political significance and about major political controversies. News, particularly printed news, developed a set of conventions and norms. In 1640 serial news in printed form dealing with domestic politics was the most obvious innovation. The news media were hardly champions of free speech versus an authoritarian government. Coffee house conversation about news and politics were a striking characteristic of English political culture. The coffee house also became an accepted part of political life. In general, the explosion of the news media during the periods 1640–42 and 1679–81 offers some sense of what the news marketplace would have been like without government counter-pressure.Less
This chapter concentrates on news and other forms of information and printed polemic with the aim of showing the extent to which the English were informed about personalities and events of political significance and about major political controversies. News, particularly printed news, developed a set of conventions and norms. In 1640 serial news in printed form dealing with domestic politics was the most obvious innovation. The news media were hardly champions of free speech versus an authoritarian government. Coffee house conversation about news and politics were a striking characteristic of English political culture. The coffee house also became an accepted part of political life. In general, the explosion of the news media during the periods 1640–42 and 1679–81 offers some sense of what the news marketplace would have been like without government counter-pressure.
Edward Paleit
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199602988
- eISBN:
- 9780191744761
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199602988.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, British and Irish History: BCE to 500CE
War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism ...
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War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism of the reception of a classical text. It is also a study of that text itself, through the medium of early modern engagements. It examines and interprets responses to Lucan’s Bellum Ciuile across many different forms of discourse, trying to balance an account of the cultural assumptions and practices which shaped Lucan for early modern readers with a sense of the historical specificity of individual engagements, and an evolving narrative of pre-Civil War English writing. It argues that there were many sides to reading Lucan in the period but that collectively many if not most readers used Lucan to express aspects of a troubled, changing political experience. It examines readings of Lucan by a number of important early modern English authors, including Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Christopher Marlowe, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, Abraham Cowley, and Thomas May. The number and variety of engagements with Lucan in the period suggest it could be called an ‘age of Lucan’.Less
War, Liberty and Caesar is chiefly an attempt to address aspects of early modern English literary and political culture between ca. 1580 to 1650, through the sometimes illuminating prism of the reception of a classical text. It is also a study of that text itself, through the medium of early modern engagements. It examines and interprets responses to Lucan’s Bellum Ciuile across many different forms of discourse, trying to balance an account of the cultural assumptions and practices which shaped Lucan for early modern readers with a sense of the historical specificity of individual engagements, and an evolving narrative of pre-Civil War English writing. It argues that there were many sides to reading Lucan in the period but that collectively many if not most readers used Lucan to express aspects of a troubled, changing political experience. It examines readings of Lucan by a number of important early modern English authors, including Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Christopher Marlowe, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, Abraham Cowley, and Thomas May. The number and variety of engagements with Lucan in the period suggest it could be called an ‘age of Lucan’.
