Daniel Defoe, Jure Divino

Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1706

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Epic

Resources

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Jure Divino

comprises over 7,500 lines, mostly of heroic couplets, organised into twelve books, as well as explanatory annotations in prose. It is Defoe’s intended magnum opus in poetry, though it has never enjoyed the popularity of

The True-Born Englishman

(1701). The subject is the divine right theory of kingship. The Whig Defoe was perturbed that Tories and Jacobites clung to that political doctrine, which he regards as a veil for tyranny and slavery, conditions to which vitiated human nature tends but which the divine gift of reason, properly exercised, shows to be demeaning. Defoe’s satire is a “verse essay”, an Augustan mode of philosophical poetry that comprehensively examines a topic from its basic rudiments to multiple particular examples.

Jure Divino

is the fullest…

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3271 words

Citation: Seager, Nicholas. "Jure Divino". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 April 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28790, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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