The Critical Response to John Milton's Paradise LostTimothy Miller Bloomsbury Academic, 1997 M04 22 - 337 pages Paradise Lost was recognized as a major epic poem soon after its publication in 1667. For more than three centuries, critics have been describing, interpreting, and evaluating it. Regardless of their approaches to changing literary values, they have generally accepted it as the prime example of the epic in English. As many critics have observed, the poem brought biblical, literary, cultural, social, scientific, and political elements into such aesthetic harmony that even its detractors have been forced to recognize its greatness. And because of its complexity, it has become a test case in literary studies as a focal point for changing critical assumptions and literary values. This reference book traces the critical reception of Paradise Lost from the 17th century to the present. The volume is organized in chapters devoted to particular centuries, with each chapter presenting a selection of reviews and critical essays from that period. Thus the reader is able to chart the changing response to ^IParadise Lost^R over time. An introductory essay summarizes the reception of Milton's work, and a bibliography lists important sources of additional information. |
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... believe , understood the nature of his art better than the critic . He knew that his poetical genius derived no advantage from the civilization which surrounded him , or from the learning which he had acquired ; and he looked back with ...
... believe that in such verse no ' highly sensuous and perfectly make - believe world ' could be evoked . Even in the first two books of Paradise Lost , where the myth has vigorous life and one can admire the magnificent invention that ...
... believe , in the original version the actions of the angel Abdiel , bridging the end of Book V and the beginning of Book VI , are at the centre of the poem . Here is the pattern of the " one just man , " the individual saving remnant in ...
Contents
Milton and the Telescope | 14 |
Dominant Residual | 18 |
An Essay Upon the Civil Wars of France And also Upon | 23 |
Copyright | |
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