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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... Images . of Homer ; even the great Virgil himself is not to be excepted . Milton was the first , who in the space of almost 4000 Years , resolved , for his Country's Honour and his own , to present the World with an Original Poem ; that ...
... images ; which affect because they are crowded and confused . For , separate them , and you lose much of the greatness ; and join them , and you infallibly lose the clearness . The images raised by poetry are always of this obscure kind ...
... images rather obstruct the career of fancy than incite it . Pleasure and terrour are , indeed , the genuine sources of poetry ; but poetical pleasure must be such as human imagination can , at least , conceive , and poetical terrour ...
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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