John Milton’s Network and the Republic of Letters

Abstract

In this article, Esther van Raamsdonk and Ruth Ahnert apply social network analysis to show us Milton’s influence on seventeenth-century literary, philosophical, and diplomatic networks. Their analysis offers a remarkably clear sense of Milton’s direct and indirect influence in England and on the Continent as well as demonstrating ways in which Milton might have been influenced himself by European intellectual, literary, and political culture. In addition to calling attention to the international reach of Milton’s work, the authors are able to use a novel method that shows a network around Milton that goes beyond his direct correspondence. As a result, we are given a much more accurate sense of Milton’s influence than has previously been available to us.