Milton, Marvell, and the Dutch Republic
The tumultuous relations between Britain and the United Provinces in the seventeenth century provide the backdrop to this book, striking new ground as its transnational framework permits an overview of their intertwined culture, politics, trade, intellectual exchange, and religious debate. How the English and Dutch understood each other is coloured by these factors, and revealed through an imagological method, charting the myriad uses of stereotypes in different genres and contexts. The discussion is anchored in a specific context through the lives and works of John Milton and Andrew Marvell, whose complex connections with Dutch people and society are investigated. As well as turning overdue attention to neglected Dutch writers of the period, the book creates new possibilities for reading Milton and Marvell as not merely English, but European poets.
Esther van Raamsdonk is a British Academy Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, University of Warwick, examining the politics of biblical narrative in the Dutch Republic and England. She previously worked on the digital humanities project Networking Archives, and completed a Ph.D. on Milton and Marvell at the University of Exeter. She has published articles on Miltons and Marvells poetry, Dutch language acquisition, demonology, and travelogues.
Routledge Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Worlds of Knowledge
Series Editors: Harald E. Braun
University of Liverpool
Emily Michelson
University of St Andrews
This series explores Renaissance and Early Modern Worlds of Knowledge (c.1400-c.1700) in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. The volumes published in this series study the individuals, communities and networks involved in making and communicating knowledge during the first age of globalisation. Authors investigate the perceptions, practices and modes of behaviour which shaped Renaissance and Early Modern intellectual endeavour and examine the ways in which they reverberated in the political, cultural, social and economic sphere.
The series is interdisciplinary, comparative and global in its outlook. We welcome submissions from new as well as existing fields of Renaissance Studies, including the history of literature (including neo-Latin, European and non-European languages), science and medicine, religion, architecture, environmental and economic history, the history of the book, art history, intellectual history and the history of music. We are particularly interested in proposals that straddle disciplines and are innovative in terms of approach and methodology.
The series includes monographs, shorter works and edited collections of essays. The Society for Renaissance Studies (www.rensoc.org.uk) provides an expert editorial board, mentoring, extensive editing and support for contributors to the series, ensuring high standards of peer-reviewed scholarship. We welcome proposals from early career researchers as well as more established colleagues.
SRS Board Members: Erik DeBom (KU Leuven, Belgium), Mordechai Feingold (California Institute of Technology, USA), Andrew Hadfield (University of Sussex, UK), Peter Mack (University of Warwick, UK), Jennifer Richards (University of Newcastle, UK), Stefania Tutino (UCLA, USA), Richard Wistreich (Royal College of Music, UK)
Milton, Marvell, and the Dutch Republic
Esther van Raamsdonk
Staging Favorites
Theatrical Representations of Political Favoritism in the Early Modern Courts of Spain, France, and England
Francisco Gmez Martos
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Renaissance-and-Early-Modern-Worlds-of-Knowledge/book-series/ASHSER4043
First published 2021
by Routledge
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2021 Esther van Raamsdonk
The right of Esther van Raamsdonk to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Van Raamsdonk, Esther, author.
Title: Milton, Marvell, and the Dutch republic / Esther van
Raamsdonk.
Description: First edition. | New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series:
Routledge studies in Renaissance and early modern worlds of
knowledge | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020014184 (print) | LCCN 2020014185
(ebook) | ISBN 9780367520571 (hardback) | ISBN
9781003056218 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Great BritainRelationsNetherlands. |
NetherlandsRelationsGreat Britain. | Great BritainForeign
relations17th century. | NetherlandsForeign relations
17th century. | Marvell, Andrew, 16211678Appreciation
Netherlands. | Milton, John, 16081674Appreciation
Netherlands. | Dutch literature17th centuryHistory and
criticism. | Stereotypes (Social psychology) in literature.
Classification: LCC DA47.3 .V36 2020 (print) | LCC DA47.3
(ebook) | DDC 303.48/241049209032dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014184
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014185
ISBN: 978-0-367-52057-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05621-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To Michael where my extended soul is fixt.
All poetry of John Milton is from the following editions:
- Paradise Lost, ed. by Alastair Fowler (London: Longman Pearson, 2007).
- The Complete Shorter Poems, ed. by John Carey (London: Longman Pearson, 2007).
All poetry of Andrew Marvell is from the following edition:
- The Poems of Andrew Marvell, ed. by Nigel Smith (London: Longman Pearson, 2007).
All poetry of Joost van den Vondel is from the following edition:
- De werken van Vondel, ed. by J.F.M. Sterck, et al., 10 vols. (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 19271937).
All poetry and plays of John Dryden are from the following editions:
- The Works of John Dryden, ed. by Edward Niles Hooker and H.T. Swedenberg, 20 vols. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974).
I have used modern editions for quotations from English primary sources when available. When unavailable, I have retained the original spellings.
All Dutch, Latin and French quotations used in the book are translated by myself, unless otherwise stated in the endnotes. I have decided to include all Dutch (and other languages) sources within the text itself (with some minor exceptions) rather than presenting them in the endnotes. Having the translations side by side, especially with poetry, enables the reader to make direct comparisons. Frequently the availability of similar expressions and images illustrates lines of connection between the Dutch and the English. It was also important to display the alexandrine form and robust enjoyment of full rhyme that almost all of Dutch poetry shares (an interesting contrast with Miltons iambic blank verse, which also raised eyebrows in England). Hopefully, the original sense and rhyme scheme can still be followed.