Title: Secular chains : poetry and the politics of religion from Milton to Pope /
Authors: Connell, Philip,
Year: 2016
Subjects: Religion and literature England History.; English poetry History and criticism; Politics and literature England History; Religion and literature England History; English poetry History and criticism; English poetry History and criticism
Abstract: 'Secular Chains' uses close readings of the work of a range of canonical poets to re-evaluate the relationship between English literary culture and the political challenges to religious authority that emerged in the wake of the civil wars, and which culminated in the intellectual ferment of the early Enlightenment.
Contents: Introduction -- 'Hireling wolves' : poetry, prophecy, and Republican religion -- The failure of uniformity -- 'Priests of all religions are the same' : Dryden and the politics of irreligion -- Whig poetics and the church in danger -- The literature of physico- theology -- Alexander Pope and the modes of faith -- Coda : Pope, Milton, modernity.