 | Increase and Multiply: Governing Cultural Reproduction in Early Modern England Subjects: English literature -- Early modern 1500–1700 -- History and criticism; Population in literature; Sidney Philip Sir 1554–1586 -- Views on population; Shakespeare William 1564–1616 -- Views on population; Milton John 1608–1674 -- Views on population; ; Across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a growing notion of the value of a large populace created a sense of urgency about reproduction; accordingly, a wide array of English writers of the time voiced the need not merely to add more people but also to ensure that England had an abundance of the right kinds of people. This need, in turn, called for a variety of institutions to trainOCoand thus make, through a kind of nonbiological procreationOCopious, enterprising, and dutiful subjects. In Increase and Multiply, David Glimp examines previously unexplored links between this emergent demographic mentality and Renaissance literature." |
