Dissertation haiku
by mercuriuspoliticus
Inspired by the Dissertation Haiku blog, here is my own effort:
Rump takes over news
Writers and printers comply
Readers not so sure
If by some slim chance you want to read the longer version, I’ve uploaded it to the Dissertation section of this site. Given that the intellectual flotsam and jetsam from researching and writing it has formed much of this blog’s content for the last year or so, it seemed an appropriate way to mark the end of my MA.
Mercurius Politicus 
Hi Nick,
First of all, happy new year! I feel that I have been disconnected for ages because of the classes here at UMich, but I will read your dissertation with interest. I hope you are doing well.
Regards.
Nick,
Many thanks for sharing your dissertation. It is superbly written, both clear and concise and the detail given gives us a sense of the liveliness of the period.
Your use of the sources weaved an interesting argument and though my work lies elsewhere, newsbooks are incorporated and you have further impressed upon me that they are ‘event’ as well as ‘mine’. Your bibliography and footnotes provide an excellent starting-point for print culture.
Personally, it was therefore great to see mention of the fourth issue of the ‘Briefe Relation’ and it’s subject matter of the State Navy. Certainly, England faced many external threats 1649/50 and here we have a nod to the anxiety among, particularly within London, both the commercial and seafaring communities (especially following the dismissal of Warwick) and the need of the Republic to be seen to be safeguarding their interests. The publication was an attempt to alleviate these anxieties by presenting the new powerful navy to these grops; something in which Charles I had been perceived as having failed. Thus, the edition and your analsyis offers further evidence (to me anyway) of the significance of commerce to thoughts and actions throughout this period.
Many thanks once again; you have given me much to think about as I explore how international affairs influenced the minds and actions of the period.
Steve Garnett