A Companion to Milton

by Corns, Thomas N.

• ISBN13: 9781405113700
• ISBN10: 1405113707
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The diverse and controversial world of contemporary Milton studies is brought alive in this stimulating Companion. Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuels Book Award in 2002. Invites readers to explore and enjoy Milton's rich and fascinating work. Comprises 29 fresh and powerful readings of Milton's texts and the contexts in which they were created, each written by a leading scholar. Looks at literary production and cultural ideologies, issues of politics, gender and religion, individual Milton texts, other relevant contemporary texts and responses to Milton over time. Devotes a whole chapter to each major poem, and four to Paradise Lost. Conveys the excitement of recent developments in the field.

Author Biography

Thomas N. Corns is a Professor of English at the University of Wales, Bangor. His many publications include Milton's Language (Blackwell, 1990), Uncloistered Virtue: English Political Literature, 1640-1660 (1992), and Regaining Paradise Lost (1994). He is also the editor of The Royal Image: Representations of Charles I (1999).

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Acknowledgements, Abbreviations and a Note on Editions Used	xi
The Contributors	xii
PART I: The Cultural Context	1	(106)
1 Genre	3	(19)
Barbara K. Lewalski
2 The Classical Literary Tradition	22	(15)
John K. Hale
3 Milton on the Bible	37	(18)
Regina M. Schwartz
4 Literary Baroque and Literary Neoclassicism	55	(17)
Graham Parry
5 Milton and English Poetry	72	(18)
Achsah Guibbory
6 Milton's English	90	(17)
Thomas N. Corns
PART II: Politics and Religion	107	(104)
7 The Legacy of the Late Jacobean Period	109	(15)
Cedric C. Brown
8 Milton and Puritanism	124	(17)
N.H. Keeble
9 Radical Heterodoxy and Heresy	141	(16)
John Rumrich
10 Milton and Ecology	157	(17)
Diane Kelsey McColley
11 The English and Other Peoples	174	(17)
Andrew Hadfield
12 The Literature of Controversy	191	(20)
Joad Raymond
PART III: Texts	211	(234)
The Early Poetry	213	(48)
13 'On the Morning of Christ's Nativity', 'Upon the Circumcision' and 'The Passion'	215	(17)
Thomas N. Corns
14 John Milton's Comus	232	(14)
Leah S. Marcus
15 'Lycidas'	246	(15)
Stella P. Revard
The Prose	261	(66)
16 Early Political Prose	263	(16)
Elizabeth Skerpan Wheeler
17 Milton, Marriage and Divorce	279	(15)
Annabel Patterson
18 Republicanism	294	(15)
Martin Dzelzainis
19 Late Political Prose	309	(18)
Laura Lunger Knoppers
The Late Poetry	327	(118)
20 Paradise Lost in Intellectual History	329	(19)
Stephen M. Fallon
21 The Radical Religious Politics of Paradise Lost	348	(15)
David Loewenstein
22 Obedience and Autonomy in Paradise Lost	363	(17)
Michael Schoenfeldt
23 Paradise Lost and the Multiplicity of Time	380	(13)
Amy Boesky
24 Self-Contradicting Puns in Paradise Lost	393	(18)
John Leonard
25 Samson Agonistes	411	(18)
Sharon Achinstein
26 Paradise Regained	429	(18)
Margaret Kean
PART IV: Influences and Reputation	445	(36)
27 Reading Milton, 1674-1800	447	(16)
Kay Gilliland Stevenson
28 Milton: The Romantics and After	463	(18)
Peter J. Kitson
PART V: Biography	481	(18)
29 The Life Records	483	(16)
Gordon Campbell
Consolidated Bibliography	499	(22)
General Index	521