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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... Original . Tis true , the Epick Poets who have liv'd since Homer , have most of them been Originals in their Fables , which are the very Souls of their Poems ; but in their manner of treating those Fables , they have too frequently been ...
... original statements have been lost through a failure of knowledge , which can be recovered ; the original insights have dimmed through a failure of attitude toward literary experience , which must be trained . Retracing the subsurface ...
... original sin revealed in Adam's invective and the nature of original righteousness represented in the marriage of Adam and Eve . ,, 2 There is no need to look outside the drama for an explanation of Adam's tone . Its bitterness is no ...
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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