"To the green earth's end": Milton and the Geographies of A Mask

Abstract

abstract:Milton's A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle has long been understood to engage an ethical debate about the proper use of nature, and this article establishes a previously neglected biographical context for understanding the literary, ethical, and historical contexts for that debate. By exploring the multiple geographies of A Mask (local, literary, and global), the article understands Milton's engagement with the moral discussion of the commercial enterprises of early modern Britain and thinks about ideas of geography as a means of interpretation.