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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... late Years in our own Country , are raised upon contrary Plans . I must however own , that I think this kind of Fable , which is the most perfect in Tragedy , is not so proper for an Heroic Poem . Milton seems to have been sensible of ...
... late . ' For this notion Johnson has thought fit to make him the butt of his clumsy ridicule . The poet , we believe , understood the nature of his art better than the critic . He knew that his poetical genius derived no advantage from ...
... late prose and in his great poems , the censored voice of a Christian radical . If we wish to entertain this possibility , it becomes important to understand in some complexity and with as much historical insight as possible what ...
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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