Dr Niall Allsopp

I specialize in literature and drama of the seventeenth century, with particular focus on the British Civil Wars and the Restoration. I am interested in how writers of this period participated in politics and articulated political ideas.

I work on canonical writers including Andrew Marvell, John Milton, and Margaret Cavendish, but I am also interested in recovering works by less-studied and non-elite writers, and studying the local and social historical contexts for the writing and circulation of literature.

My first book Poetry and Sovereignty in the English Revolution was published by Oxford University Press in 2020.

I have published a reference bibliography for students and researchers on Literature and the English Civil Wars with Oxford Bibliographies Online.

I was part of a Leverhulme-funded project team, "Writing Religious Conflict and Community in Exeter, 1500-1750", in which we explored the literary heritage and the religious identities of southwest England. Project outputs included a podcast series and a forthcoming edited volume of essays.

I completed my D.Phil. at Oxford in 2016 and I have taught at Exeter since 2017. I welcome hearing from students interested in studying any aspects of the literature of the Civil Wars.