The Humanism of Milton's Paradise Lost"The great divide in commentary on Paradise Lost is between historical and critical analysis. In his discussion of the poem, David Reid combines both approaches, at once placing it historically in terms of neoclassical humanism, and reflecting on it critically as a late twentieth-century humanist." "As a historian, Reid argues that Paradise Lost shares in the cultural effort of neoclassical humanism, and yet, in its picture of volition, the poem stands apart from it - Milton's understanding of freedom, error and guilt owing more to his Protestant than to his humanist concerns. And as a critic, Reid argues that surprisingly Milton's religious understanding speaks more directly to our humanism than his splendid articulation of neoclassical humanist themes."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 34
Page 79
... scheme went very well with the rhetorical charge of his poetry . It not merely heightened the splendour of his heroes with a glory more than human , it supplied an infinite goal towards which the epic could be thought of as a prompting ...
... scheme went very well with the rhetorical charge of his poetry . It not merely heightened the splendour of his heroes with a glory more than human , it supplied an infinite goal towards which the epic could be thought of as a prompting ...
Page 97
... scheme in which everything derives from God and yet the will is free to fall out of the scheme . The images of the fallen world make up a new historical order of things with a promise of deliverance that allows the will to return upon ...
... scheme in which everything derives from God and yet the will is free to fall out of the scheme . The images of the fallen world make up a new historical order of things with a promise of deliverance that allows the will to return upon ...
Page 162
... scheme allows his characters - Adam anyway , Eve less so- to experience their choice , guilt and repentance deeply and inwardly . So far from alienating them from their own experience , it gives them to their experi- ence absolutely ...
... scheme allows his characters - Adam anyway , Eve less so- to experience their choice , guilt and repentance deeply and inwardly . So far from alienating them from their own experience , it gives them to their experi- ence absolutely ...
Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel Adam and Eve Adam's angels Armida Arminian Augustan Bondage Book choice Christian Doctrine Christian humanism concerns corruption creation creaturely culture death despair divine Dryden earth earthly eloquence Empson Erasmus Erasmus's Essays Eve's evil experience Faerie Queene fall fallen feel forbidden knowledge freedom from constraint fruit God's heaven heavenly hell heroic human action human finitude human nature ideal imitation imagination innocence invocation involved Jerusalem Delivered John Dryden judgement light lines literary literature London looks Luther means Middlemarch Milton Milton's treatment mind moral ideas motions neoclassical epic neoclassical humanism neoclassical humanist Paradise Lost Petrarch philosophy poem poet poetry prohibition Raphael rational reason religious Renaissance Renaissance humanism Renaissance humanists rhetorical Rinaldo Satan scheme scholastic scholasticism schoolmen seems sense serpent shows sort soul speaks spirit suggests talk Tasso temperance theology thought turns understanding unfallen universal Valla virtues and vices volition