240 likes | 378 Views
17 th c . an introduction. Mid-/late-seventeenth century. p eriod: 1630s-1680s (developing British empire; it we must work with periods and place -- “British” -- we need to think about empire ) political ideas and conflict: civil war & colonial expansion
E N D
Mid-/late-seventeenth century • period: 1630s-1680s (developing British empire; it we must work with periods and place -- “British” -- we need to think about empire ) • political ideas and conflict: civil war & colonial expansion • institutions of science, medicine, technology • genres of media and literature • examples of events through which to read the connections: plague & fire
Two end points to work from: 1649 – the execution of Charles I – regicide. Conflicts over theology and global and local economics; BUT also the function of the sovereign (“kingship”). 1692 – the beginning of the witchcraft trials in Salem, MA (the “colonies”).
First English novel, Oroonoko ? • Broadsides and Ballads • Newspapers • Going viral: changing role and circulation of images (within poetry and prose)
Traherne: I saw new worlds beneath the water lie, New people, and another sky. — Thomas Traherne, On Leaping over the Moon (NAEL 8, 1.1772)
Multiple pasts/presents We don’t all have the same past/present…
Catastrophic events Great plague of London, 1665 75,000 and 100,000 of London’s rapidly expanding population of about 460,000. Great fire of London, September 2, 1666.