Poetics of the Pillory: English Literature and Seditious Libel, 1660-1820

• Published in: Seventeenth-century news Vol. 78; no. 3/4; pp. 137 - 142
• Main Author: Allsopp, Niall
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: College Station Seventeenth-Century News 01.10.2020
• Subjects: 17th century; 18th century; Anxiety; Authorship; Censorship; Defoe, Daniel (1660-1731); Determiners; Dryden, John (1631-1700); English literature; Licenses; Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678); Poetics; Poetry; Romantic period

Keymer's central claim is that indirect censorship via the threat of post-publication retribution proved "a crucial determinant of eighteenth-century authorship" (21). The climate of anxiety and uncertainty created by this regime, Keymer contends, provided an "enabling discipline...