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With the Author's Compliments

Milton's Knowledge of Music

Its Sources

and

Its Significance in his Works

A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of Princeton University
in Candidacy for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

BY

SIGMUND GOTTFRIED SPAETH

PRINCETON
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

B

HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
OCT 1 1954

Accepted by the Department of English

WEIMAR. PRINTED BY R. WAGNER SOHN

PREFACE

A dissertation on "Milton's Knowledge of Music " requires little explanation or introduction. Every student of literature or of music knows that Milton stands alone among poets in his unerring accuracy in the use of technical terms, in the sincerity and spontaneity of his enthusiasm for music, and in his broadly idealistic adaptation of the art to his accustomed methods of thought. In spite, however, of this general appreciation of the importance of Milton's knowledge of music, no attempts have yet been made to systematize the data at hand or to draw from them any general conclusions regarding the poet's mental habits. Editors and commentators, as a rule, have been content to give an explanation of the technical terms used by Milton, and even in this limited field many details of musical significance have been overloked. It is the object of this dissertation, therefore, to supplement the work of these scholars by searching out every possible reference to music in the writings of Milton, and to focus the entire array of material upon the man himself, in the hope of casting some light upon his character and personality. Such points as have already been definitely settled receive only a passing notice, and the emphasis is placed throughout upon new interpretations and conclusions of general interest.

The body of the dissertation, consisting of five chapters, represents a synthesis of all the relevant material and an exposition of the most important deductions therefrom. The five Appendixes and the Glossary supply the details from which these deductions are drawn, and must therefore be frequently

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