Milton and the Imperial Vision - Medieval & Renaissance Literary Studies

This exceptionally rich collection of 16 essays by major literary scholars and cultural historians opens new areas of inquiry in Milton studies. While focusing on forms and variations of imperialism and colonialism in the seventeenth century, chiefly as a context in which to analyse Milton's poetry and prose, these essays extend their attention to the present-day concern with postcolonialism and postcolonialist discourse. More than anything, these essays compare and contrast early modern and postmodern perspectives on various issues: imperial visions of history, imperial intolerance, the geography of empire, the role of Nature in the imperial vision, the interplay of religion and politics in imperialism, Augustan Nationalism, the multiple vision for a British Empire, the imperial canon in the colonial classroom, and the like.