Sir Robert Howard, Thomas Hobbes, and the fall of Clarendon

This article sets out a new reading of a neglected poem by Sir Robert Howard, The Duell of the Stags (1668). It places the poem in the political context of the fall of Clarendon and rise of Howard's friend and ally the Duke of Buckingham, and of Howard's concurrent falling-out with his bro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Seventeenth century Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 75 - 93
Main Author Allsopp, Niall
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Routledge 02.01.2015
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
British & Irish literature
Corruption
Dryden, John (1631-1700)
English literature
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679)
John Dryden
Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678)
Members of Parliament
Oppression
Parliaments
Religion
Restoration poetry
Sir Robert Howard
Sir William Davenant
Thomas Hobbes
Vickers, Brian
Villiers, George (1592-1628)
Winn, James Anderson
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Summary:This article sets out a new reading of a neglected poem by Sir Robert Howard, The Duell of the Stags (1668). It places the poem in the political context of the fall of Clarendon and rise of Howard's friend and ally the Duke of Buckingham, and of Howard's concurrent falling-out with his brother-in-law John Dryden. It explores the influence of Thomas Hobbes' political theory on Howard's poem, especially refracted through Sir William Davenant's Hobbesian epic Gondibert (1651). The author argues that Howard's poem implicitly attacked Dryden's mode of panegyric for the Restoration regime by offering a radically alternative reading of Hobbes, casting royal power as fragile and contingent.
ISSN:0268-117X
2050-4616
DOI:10.1080/0268117X.2015.1022209