Wounds, Flesh, And Metaphor In Seventeenth-Century England

Wounds, Flesh and Metaphor in Seventeenth-Century England explores the theme of physical and symbolic woundedness in mid-seventeenth century English literature. This book demonstrates the ways in which writers attempted to represent the politically and religiously fractured state of the time and re-imagined the nation through language and metaphor in the process. By examining the creative permutations of the wound metaphor, Covington argues for the centrality of the charged imagery, and language itself, in shaping the self-representations of an age. "Covington probes the development of a pervasive and disturbing figure of speech through a broadly informed and richly detailed analysis of key early modern political and cultural texts. Covington's sophisticated comparison of legal tracts, historical accounts, political polemics, spiritual treatises, and amorous verse shows how they all fuse spectacular images of strength and mutilation in a century of civil war and thus perpetuate and transform older ideas of martyrdom and redemptive suffering."--Richard C. McCoy, Professor of English, Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY and author of Alterations of State: Sacred Kingship in the English Reformation "A fascinating, wide-ranging and - dare I say - penetrating study, combining high theory and close reading with effects so powerful they sometimes distress, even wound."--Diane Purkiss, Keble College, Oxford University and author of Literature, Politics and Gender in the English Civil War Covington explores the manner in which the theme of physical and symbolic woundedness was claimed by a range of discourses in a century of turbulence and change. Covington explores the manner in which the theme of physical and symbolic woundedness was claimed by a range of discourses in a century of turbulence and change Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-18 The Wounded Body Politic....Pages 19-53 Law’s Breakages....Pages 55-81 The Wounds of War....Pages 83-115 The Lesions of Love....Pages 117-143 Wounds of the Soul....Pages 145-174 Conclusion....Pages 175-179 Back Matter....Pages 181-252