The Descent of Urania: Studies in Milton, 1946-1988

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Bucknell University Press, 1989 - Literary Criticism - 285 pages
Reflecting Milton's knowledgeability in many fields, this collection investigates a wide variety of subjects fundamental to an understanding of the seventeenth century, including the importance of the writings of Thrice-Great Hermes, the profound influence of Aristotle on Milton's conception of the power of matter, and the issue of Milton's relations with the Presbyterian church.

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Contents

Introduction to Part I
19
Prophetic Dreams and Visions in Paradise Lost 1948
21
The Meaning Not the Name I Call 1988 with STEVIE DAVIES
31
Eves Demonic Dream 1946
46
The Heresies of Satan 1967
56
Paradise Lost 2708711 1967
63
Introduction to Part II
69
The Theological Context of the Christian Doctrine 1976
73
Milton and the Waldensians 1971
169
The Date of Sonnet 7 1975
179
Some Speculations on the Nature of Miltons Blindness 1962
184
Introduction to Part IV
195
The Sources of Miltons Prosody 1949
198
Milton Translates the Psalms 1961
213
New Evidence for Dating Samson Agonistes 1979
219
New Words in Miltons English Poems 1954
224

Milton and the Presbyterians 1988
91
Autobiographical Inferences 1974
100
The Obedience of Christ in Paradise Regained 1971
106
The Origin and Destiny of the Soul 1946
114
The Power of Matter 1952
137
The SeventeenthCentury Doctrine of Plastic Nature 1950
149
Introduction to Part III
167
Belials Presence in Paradise Lost 1985
243
A Bibliographical Excursus into the Trinity Manuscript 1985
246
The Double Set of Temptations in Paradise Regained 1980
261
Works Cited
271
Index
283
Copyright

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Page 35 - HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born! Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblamed? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity — dwelt then in thee, Bright effluence of bright essence increate!
Page 34 - And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant...
Page 148 - O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return, If not deprav'd from good, created all Such to perfection, one first matter all, Indu'd with various forms, various degrees Of substance, and in things that live, of life...
Page 115 - Man having been created after this manner, it is said, as a consequence, that man became a living soul ? whence it may be inferred (unless we had rather take the heathen writers for our teachers respecting the nature of the soul) that man is a living being, intrinsically and properly one and individual, not compound or separable, not, according to the common opinion, made up and framed of two distinct and different natures, as of soul and body, — but that the whole man is soul, and the soul man,...
Page 32 - That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of chaos...
Page 267 - To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne: To sage philosophy next lend thine ear, From heaven descended to the...
Page 42 - Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, This be thy just circumference, O world ! " Thus God the heaven created, thus the earth, Matter unformed and void ; darkness profound Covered the abyss ; but on the watery calm His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth, Throughout the fluid mass...
Page 48 - Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames All what we affirm or what deny, and call Our knowledge or opinion ; then retires Into her private cell, when Nature rests.
Page 37 - Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegasean wing. The meaning, not the name I call; for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st, but heavenly born.

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