“A wife or friend at e’ery Port”

Author:

Ellinghausen Laurie

Abstract

The “sailor ballads” of the early British Empire employ popular song not only to investigate sailors’ hardships and victories, but to explore the character attributes of seafaring men. This article argues that the range of attitudes and concerns present in these texts signals a larger cultural conversation about these men’s fitness as husbands to the nation’s women, fathers to its children, and members of its communities. Although protoimperialist and mercantilist writers such as John Dee, Robert Hitchcock, and Edward Misselden stressed the social benefits of employing common men in large-scale seafaring projects, the ballads explore the consequences of the common sailor’s presence—and most particularly, his prolonged absence—on the traditional stabilizing structures of family and community. In doing so, the ballads critically examine the potential rewards and consequences of imperial expansion from a terrestrial, local, and communal perspective.

Publisher

Duke University Press

Subject

General Arts and Humanities,Cultural Studies

Cited by 1 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3