Dr Edward W Holberton

My main research interests lie in Literature of the Civil War and Restoration periods, especially the work of Andrew Marvell and John Milton, Early Modern Literature and Diplomacy, and Early Modern Literature’s relationships with the Atlantic World.

I am currently working on a monograph project, provisionally titled Literature and Empire in the British Atlantic World, 1630-1740, which will look at the production and reception of work across the Anglophone Atlantic, focussing on texts by George Herbert, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, Aphra Behn, Daniel Defoe, John Dryden, Cotton Mather, Edward Taylor, and James Thomson.

I have an ongoing interest in Literature of the Civil War and Restoration periods, especially the work of Andrew Marvell and John Milton. In 2008 I published the monograph Poetry and the Cromwellian Protectorate: Culture, Politics, and Institutions, and I am currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Andrew Marvell with Martin Dzelzainis. 

I also have an interest in connections between early modern literature, diplomacy, and international law. in 2013-14, I participated in an AHRC funded research network on this topic, ‘Textual Ambassadors’ and I am currently writing articles on ‘Dryden and International Law’ for The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500–1700, and on Andrew Marvell’s embassy to Russia. 

I also have an interest in contemporary poetry. 

Teaching

I am currently teaching the undergraduate units 'Approaches to Poetry', 'Approaches to Shakespeare',  Literature 2 (1500-1700), and Literature 3 (1700-1830). I also contribute to the MA programme, teaching topics in the early modern period.   

My postgraduate research teaching includes a doctoral project on satire and news culture in the later seventeenth century and I would be pleased to supervise PhD research connected with any of the areas of my research interests. Please get in touch if you are considering working on a connected topic.