Destabilizing Milton "Paradise Lost" and the Poetics of Incertitude

by Herman, Peter C.

• ISBN13: 9781403967619
• ISBN10: 140396761X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-13
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Destabilizing Milton challenges the widely accepted view of Milton as a poet of absolute, unquestioning certainty. In "Paradise Lost," Milton confronts the failure of the Revolution by creating a poem that refuses to grant the reader any interpretive stability or certainty. While "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes" reflect Milton's deep ambivalences after the collapse of the Republic. Far from confirming his earlier ideals, in his later poetry, Milton subjects his culture's most cherished beliefs, such as the goodness of God, to withering scrutiny, while refusing the comfort of orthodox answers.

Author Biography

Peter C. Herman is Professor of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: "Normal" Interpretation and the Protocols of Milton Criticism: Or, How the Interpretation of Milton Really Works	1	(24)
1. "Warring Chains of Signifiers": Metaphoric Ambivalence and the Politics of Paradise Lost	25	(18)
2. Paradise Lost, the Miltonic "Or," and the Poetics of Incertitude	43	(18)
3. "England a Free Nation": Milton's Prose and the Ancient Constitution	61	(22)
4. "New Laws, New Counsels": The Problem of Politics in Paradise Lost	83	(24)
5. Incertitude, Authority, and Milton's God	107	(20)
6. "The More to Draw His Love": Paradise Lost and the Critique of Misogyny	127	(28)
7. Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and the Conclusion of Milton's Career	155	(22)
Notes	177	(48)
Index	225