Hobbes and His Poetic Contemporaries : Cultural Transmission in Early Modern England

As an exceptionally long-lived author (1588-1679) whose protracted development, late appearance in print, subsequent muzzling, and profound notoriety raise fascinating questions about how, when, and to what effect his thinking exerted an impact as he sought to transform an entire culture, Hobbes supplies the ideal focus for a study of cultural transmission in early modern England. Ranging from Jonson to Rochester and including several critically neglected figures, select poetic contemporaries variously illuminate the scope of Hobbes's writing and the reach of his influence, in turn shedding diverse lights on the nature of their own work Front Matter....Pages i-xi “How He Did Grow”: Hobbes, Hobbes, and Hobbes....Pages 1-17 “To Governe the Reader”: Hobbes and Davenant....Pages 19-50 “Plain Magick”: Hobbes and Cowley....Pages 51-68 “Joynt Innterest”: Hobbes and Waller....Pages 69-102 “Absurd and Foolish Philosophy”: Hobbes and Rochester....Pages 103-132 “Common Passions”: Hobbes and Suckling....Pages 133-156 “Sufficiently Disposed”: Hobbes and Godolphin....Pages 157-174 “Ordinary Artifice”: Hobbes and Jonson....Pages 175-206 Back Matter....Pages 207-248 Ranging from Jonson to Rochester and including several critically neglected figures, this work brings together poetic contemporaries who illuminate the scope of Hobbes' writing and the reach of his influence, in turn shedding diverse lights on the nature of their own work