Worden on Milton, Marvell, and Nedham

Jutta forwarded this review of a book that attempts to read the literary and the political works of Milton, Marvell, and Nedham in relation to each other, and to the major political figures and events of their day.

The book, by Blair Worden, is Literature and Politics in Cromwellian England: John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Marchamont Nedham.

With regard to Milton, the blurb says:

In Milton's case we explore the profound effect on his outlook brought by the execution of King Charles I in 1649; his difficult and disillusioning relationship with the successive regimes of the Interregnum; and his attempt to come to terms, in his immortal poetry of the Restoration, with the failure of Puritan rule.

According to the reviewer:

In Worden's words, from the beginning, "Cromwell's government was divided ... between statesmen who hoped, and those who feared, that the inauguration of the protectorate would be the first step in a return to hereditary--though now Cromwellian--monarchy," and he succeeds admirably in conveying the sense of betrayal experienced by men like Milton, Marvell, and Nedham as the Cromwellian juggernaut gained ground.