Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750This innovative look at previously neglected poetry in British America represents a major contribution to our understanding of early American culture. Spanning the period from the Glorious Revolution (1690) to the end of King George's War (1750), this study critically reconstitutes the literature of empire in the thirteen colonies, Canada, and the West Indies by investigating over 300 texts in mixed print and manuscript sources, including poems in pamphlets and newspapers. British America's poetry of empire was dominated by three issues: mercantilism's promise that civilization and wealth would be transmitted from London to the provinces; the debate over the extent of metropolitan prerogatives in law and commerce when they obtruded upon provincial rights and interests; and the argument that Britain's imperium pelagi was an ethical empire, because it depended upon the morality of trade, while the empires of Spain and France were immoral empires because they were grounded upon conquest. In discussing these issues, Shields provides a virtual anthology of poems long lost to students of American literature. |
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... poets : the history of their colonies would form the matter of the highest species of poetry . Yet where were the great British American poems on imperial enterprise ? And how could politics be divorced from the expan- sion of imperial ...
... poets : the history of their colonies would form the matter of the highest species of poetry . Yet where were the great British American poems on imperial enterprise ? And how could politics be divorced from the expan- sion of imperial ...
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... poetic practice in British America can be ven- tured at this juncture . The colonies participated in the international literary movement that historians have called neoclassicism . New World poets em- braced three developments in ...
... poetic practice in British America can be ven- tured at this juncture . The colonies participated in the international literary movement that historians have called neoclassicism . New World poets em- braced three developments in ...
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Contents
1 | |
Part One The British Empire and the Poetry of Commerce | 11 |
Part Two The Paper Wars Over the Prerogative | 93 |
Part Three The Rhetoric of Imperial Animosity | 173 |
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Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750 David S. Shields No preview available - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
Androboros assembly authority ballad became Belcher Benjamin Black Legend Book Boston Britain British America Burnet Byles Church colonies commerce conquest Cosby Cotton Mather Country Court culture Dudley Early American economic empire England English Evans fable French Gazette George Georgia Glorious Revolution governor Grainger History Hunter imperial Island J. A. Leo Lemay James James Oglethorpe John Joseph Joseph Dudley King Kirkpatrick land Letter Lewis Morris liberty Library literary literature London manuscript Maryland Massachusetts Historical Society Mather mercantilism merchants moral muse myth narrative native New-York Ogilvie Oglethorpe Old Charter Papers patriot peace Penn Penn's Pennsylvania Philadelphia planters poem poetic poetry poets political popular prerogative Province Ralph's rhetoric Richard Robert Robert Hunter royal Saffin salary Samuel satire slave slavery Smith song South Carolina Spanish Thomas tion tobacco Tory trade translatio studii University Press verse War of Jenkins wealth West Indies Whig William World York Weekly Journal