This thesis examines a wide variety of writings by exiles in the English Revolution and its aftermath, emphasising the personal and political import of exilic testimonies, and the difficulty of distinguishing between the two. Employing a case study approach, I begin by considering the experiences of a prominent royalist, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, in his first exile, focusing heavily on his devotional work, Contemplations and Reflections on the Psalms of David. I then analyse the impact on royalist exiles, as manifested in their correspondence, diaries and poetry, of ceremony and grief, with particular reference to the ministry of the Anglican divine, George Morley, in Antwerp in 1651-3. Internal royalist exile is also considered, notably the cavalier sub-genre of 'London' poetry generated by numerous Acts of Banishment from the capital during the 1640s and '50s, and I also give critical attention to how royalists respond to being confined to their estates. Parliamentarian figures are also featured in this study, as I demonstrate that exile, and the cultural forms in which it is couched, is by no means the sole preserve of royalists; indeed, that exile with its root causes in the English Revolution extends well beyond the cut-off point provided by the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. To this end, I appraise the poetry and translations of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, composed at Nun Appleton after he retires from publiclife in 1650, as well as the correspondence ofthe regicide Williarn Goffe, who flees to the New Jerusalem of New England in 1650, dying there nearly twenty years later. Writings of exile are found to both reinforce and bridge the central factional divide of the period, to display artifice and artlessness, often in equal measure, and to articulate a rich diversity of survivalist responses, including stoicism, companionship, and denial.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:582572 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Major, Philip Stuart |
| Publisher | Birkbeck (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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