The Levellers | A. L. Morton (essay date 1966)
A. L. Morton (essay date 1966)
SOURCE: "The Leveller Style," in The Matter of Britain: Essays in a Living Culture, pp. 73-82. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1966.
(In the essay that follows, Morton compares the writing styles of Leveller leaders John Lilburne, Richard Overton, and William Walwyn, as exhibited in the many political pamphlets penned by each.]
Many of us, when we think of the pamphlet literature of the English Revolution, think first, and often think only, of the work of John Milton. This is natural, since Milton's place not only as a poet but as a master of polemical prose has long been established. Nevertheless it can lead us to a false estimate of the vast and rich pamphlet literature of the age, for Milton was as far from being unique as he was from being typical, and, if his work is a peak, it is a peak only of one range among several. It may also be said to be somewhat outside the main current of English prose. Milton was...
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