Image Government: Monarchical Metamorphoses in English Literature, 1649-1702

Spin seems to be everywhere in modern politics, and is often spoken of as if entirely new. This volume gives lie to that claim, showing how the art of the spin-doctor was widely practised over 300 years ago. The term art is used here in the sense of artistic imagery as well as the skill of the spinner in manipulating opinion. The author discusses the work of authors such as Edmund Waller and painters like Antonio Verrio to illuminate the changing ideologies of the late Stuart era and the way in which ideas about sovereignty were expressed by artists. This book traces some of the cranks and windings, ebbings and flowings that lead from Charles I’s downfall to Queen Anne’s coronation, as they are registered in printed literature and visual art. The poetry of Marvell and Dryden, political writings by greater and lesser figures, and the works of significant divines such as Whiggish Burnet, and Hickes, are all used to show how the expression of ideas changed in the second half of the 17th century.