How Milton Works

How Milton Works PDF Author: Stanley Eugene Fish
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674004658
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 640

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Book Description
Stanley Fish's Surprised by Sin, first published in 1967, set a new standard for Milton criticism and established its author as one of the world's preeminent Milton scholars. The lifelong engagement begun in that work culminates in this book, the magnum opus of a formidable critic and the definitive statement on Milton for our time. How Milton works "from the inside out" is the foremost concern of Fish's book, which explores the radical effect of Milton's theological convictions on his poetry and prose. For Milton the value of a poem or of any other production derives from the inner worth of its author and not from any external measure of excellence or heroism. Milton's aesthetic, says Fish, is an "aesthetic of testimony": every action, whether verbal or physical, is or should be the action of holding fast to a single saving commitment against the allure of plot, narrative, representation, signs, drama--anything that might be construed as an illegitimate supplement to divine truth. Much of the energy of Milton's writing, according to Fish, comes from the effort to maintain his faith against these temptations, temptations which in any other aesthetic would be seen as the very essence of poetic value. Encountering the great poet on his own terms, engaging his equally distinguished admirers and detractors, this book moves a 300-year debate about the significance of Milton's verse to a new level.

How Milton Works

How Milton Works PDF Author: Stanley Eugene Fish
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674004658
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 640

Get Book

Book Description
Stanley Fish's Surprised by Sin, first published in 1967, set a new standard for Milton criticism and established its author as one of the world's preeminent Milton scholars. The lifelong engagement begun in that work culminates in this book, the magnum opus of a formidable critic and the definitive statement on Milton for our time. How Milton works "from the inside out" is the foremost concern of Fish's book, which explores the radical effect of Milton's theological convictions on his poetry and prose. For Milton the value of a poem or of any other production derives from the inner worth of its author and not from any external measure of excellence or heroism. Milton's aesthetic, says Fish, is an "aesthetic of testimony": every action, whether verbal or physical, is or should be the action of holding fast to a single saving commitment against the allure of plot, narrative, representation, signs, drama--anything that might be construed as an illegitimate supplement to divine truth. Much of the energy of Milton's writing, according to Fish, comes from the effort to maintain his faith against these temptations, temptations which in any other aesthetic would be seen as the very essence of poetic value. Encountering the great poet on his own terms, engaging his equally distinguished admirers and detractors, this book moves a 300-year debate about the significance of Milton's verse to a new level.

The Major Works

The Major Works PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192804099
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1012

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Book Description
This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Milton's poetry and prose - all the English verse together with a generous selection from the major prosewritings - to give the essence of his work and thinking.Milton's influence on English poetry and criticism has been incalculable, and this edition covers the full range of his poetic and political output. It includes Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes as well as major prose works such as Areopagitica and The Tenure of Kings andMagistrates. As well as all the English and Italian verse, the volume includes most of the Latin and Greek verse in parallel translation. Spelling has been modernized, and the poems are arranged in order of publication, essential to an understanding of the progress of Milton's career in relationto the political and religious upheavals of his time. The extensive notes cover syntax, vocabulary, historical context, and biblical and classical allusions. The introduction traces both Milton's changing conception of his own vocation, and the critical reception his work has received over the pastfour centuries.

Surprised by Sin

Surprised by Sin PDF Author: Stanley Eugene Fish
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674857476
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
In 1967 Milton studies was divided into two camps: one claiming (per Blake and Shelley) that Milton was of the devil's party, the other claiming (per Addison and C. S. Lewis) that the poet's sympathies were obviously with God and his loyal angels. Fish has reconciled the two camps by subsuming their claims in a single overarching thesis.

The Poetical Works of John Milton

The Poetical Works of John Milton PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description


John Milton

John Milton PDF Author: Gordon Campbell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199591032
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
The first biography of Milton based on original research for 40 years, and first to take account of new thinking about 17th-century England. Milton is seen here as flawed, passionate, ruthless, and ambitious, as well as one of the most accomplished writers of the time and author of the most influential narrative poem in English.

The Poetical Works. With a Life of the Author

The Poetical Works. With a Life of the Author PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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John Milton

John Milton PDF Author: John T. Shawcross
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813170145
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
"Winner of the James Holly Hanford Prize given by the Milton Society of America An exporation into the mind of John Milton that probes deeper than previous biographical studies, John Shawcross's award-winning text examines the psychological underpinnings of Milton's decision to become a poet, the homoerotic dimensions of his personality, and his relationships with his father and mother. John T. Shawcross is professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky and the author and editor of many books. See other books in the series Studies in the English Renaissance.

The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton

The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0307419487
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 1410

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Book Description
John Milton is, next to William Shakespeare, the most influential English poet, a writer whose work spans an incredible breadth of forms and subject matter. The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton celebrates this author’s genius in a thoughtfully assembled book that provides new modern-spelling versions of Milton’s texts, expert commentary, and a wealth of other features that will please even the most dedicated students of Milton’s canon. Edited by a trio of esteemed scholars, this volume is the definitive Milton for our time. In these pages you will find all of Milton’s verse, from masterpieces such as Paradise Lost–widely viewed as the finest epic poem in the English language–to shorter works such as the Nativity Ode, Lycidas,, A Masque and Samson Agonistes. Milton’s non-English language sonnets, verses, and elegies are accompanied by fresh translations by Gordon Braden. Among the newly edited and authoritatively annotated prose selections are letters, pamphlets, political tracts, essays such as Of Education and Areopagitica, and a generous portion of his heretical Christian Doctrine. These works reveal Milton’s passionate advocacy of controversial positions during the English Civil War and the Commonwealth and Restoration periods. With his deep learning and the sensual immediacy of his language, Milton creates for us a unique bridge to the cultures of classical antiquity and medieval and Renaissance Christianity. With this in mind, the editors give careful attention to preserving the vibrant energy of Milton’s verse and prose, while making the relatively unfamiliar aspects of his writing accessible to modern readers. Notes identify the old meanings and roots of English words, illuminate historical contexts–including classical and biblical allusions–and offer concise accounts of the author’s philosophical and political assumptions. This edition is a consummate work of modern literary scholarship.

The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume II

The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume II PDF Author: John Milton
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0199296170
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Volume II in Oxford's Complete Works of John Milton provides newly-collated and carefully edited old-spelling texts of two of Milton major poems: Paradise Regain'd and Samson Agonistes. A detailed introduction and notes examine the political, religious, print, and publishing context in which the poems appeared.

Locating Milton

Locating Milton PDF Author: Thomas Festa
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1949979733
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Locating Milton: Places and Perspectives collects nine previously unpublished essays that examine Milton’s works as the product of his unique intellectual experiences at home and abroad, while also tracing the ways in which those works themselves express the influence of his travel, his reading, and his political engagement. Following an interpretive introduction that seeks to locate Milton through his last surviving letter, the first group of essays examine how young Milton locates himself through his travels in Italy, how Milton’s early reading leads him to situate himself intellectually, and how the intellectual framework Milton generated remains pertinent to students and communities today. The second group calculates the impact of early modern mathematical and scientific models on Milton’s cosmology, demonstrating how Milton’s complex negotiations of such models give form and perspective to his greatest poetic works. The final group of essays locates Milton distinctly through his works’ global reception, ranging from the anonymous English poem Praeexistence, to Milton’s place in the “new world” and science fiction, to his presence as a figure inspiring political resistance in communist Hungary.