Piercing the Screen of Words: Reflections on the Political Poetics of Douglas Oliver

Discourse ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-214
Author(s):  
Carol. Watts
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Poetics

The Post-Machiavellian Poetry of ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’

2019 ◽  
pp. 424-442
Author(s):  
Annabel Brett
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Wide Context ◽  
Political Poetics

The Machiavellian dimension to the portrayal of Cromwell in ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’ has long been recognized. The first part of this essay moves beyond existing interpretations to situate Marvell’s political poem in relation to the poetics of post-Machiavellian political discourse as it was understood and practised in a Europe-wide context, with a particular focus on translation between England, Italy, and Spain. Recovering the peculiar ‘wit’ of the sententia, which lay in its relation to action, enables us better to appreciate the complexity and subtlety with which Marvell created a contemporary Horatian voice. The second part of the essay turns to the characters of the action, analysing how that distinctive voice allows room for genuine drama without ever fully identifying with it; identity, in fact, is one of the things most troublingly problematized by the political poetics of the ‘Ode’.

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Democrazy—Dem Go Craze, O: Monitoring the 1999 Nigerian Elections

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Darren Kew
Keyword(s):  
Transition Program ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Soccer Match ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Military

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.

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