The
turbulent years of the mid-17th century, during the reign of Charles I
and the subsequent Commonwealth and Protectorate, saw a flourishing of
political literature in English. Pamphlets written by sympathisers of
every faction in the English civil war ran from vicious personal attacks
and polemics, through many forms of propaganda, to high-minded schemes
to reform the nation. Of the latter type, Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
would prove to be one of the most important works of British political
philosophy. Hobbes's writings are some of the few political works from
the era which are still regularly published while John Bramhall, who was
Hobbes's chief critic, is largely forgotten. The period also saw a
flourishing of news books, the precursors to the British newspaper, with
journalists such as Henry Muddiman, Marchamont Needham, and John
Birkenhead representing the views and activities of the contending
parties. The frequent arrests of authors and the suppression of their
works, with the consequence of foreign or underground printing, led to
the proposal of a licensing system. The Areopagitica, a political
pamphlet by John Milton, was written in opposition to licensing and is
regarded as one of the most eloquent defenses of press freedom ever
written.Specifically in the reign of Charles I (1625 – 42), English Renaissance theatre experienced its concluding
efflorescence. The last works of Ben Jonson appeared on stage and in print, along with the final generation of major voices in the drama of the age: John Ford, Philip Massinger, James Shirley, and Richard Brome. With the closure of the theatres at the start of the English Civil War in 1642, drama was suppressed for a generation, to resume only in the altered society of the English Restoration in 1660.
Other forms of literature written during this period are usually ascribed political subtexts, or their authors aregrouped along political lines. The cavalier poets, active mainly before the civil war, owed much to the earlier school of metaphysical poets. The forced retirement of royalist officials after the execution of Charles I was a good thing in the case of Izaak Walton, as it gave him time to work on his book The Compleat Angler. Published in 1653, the book, ostensibly a guide to fishing, is much more: a meditation on life, leisure, and contentment. The two most important poets of Oliver Cromwell's England were Andrew Marvell and John Milton, with both producing works praising the new government; such as Marvell's An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland. Despite their republican beliefs they escaped punishment upon the Restoration of Charles II, after which Milton wrote some of his greatest poetical works (with any possible political message hidden under allegory). Thomas Browne was another writer of the period; a learned man with an extensive library, he wrote prolifically on science, religion,
medicine and the esoteric.
