Milton's Wisdom: Nature and Scripture in Paradise LostMilton's Wisdom examines the poet's use of the traditional notion that the eternal wisdom of God expressed itself in the "books" of nature and Scripture. It is the first study to draw attention to Milton's extensive use of biblical wisdom literature in his dramatization of Adam and Eve's education, their fall, and their reconciliation with one another and with God. The author looks at the ways theological and hence epistemological questions converge on and are generated by Adam's, Eve's, and Satan's responses to the world they see around them and to the words God and his emissaries speak to them. Reichert argues that the nature/Scripture dichotomy informs the symmetrical structure of the twelve books of Milton's epic. Milton's Wisdom challenges previous readings that have tried to ally Milton with the Puritans' strict theology of the word. Reichert has shifted our attention away from literary and historical theory and back to the experience of the poem as a whole. |
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Page 102
... passage is designed to make us feel as if our necks ached as we read . It is designed , too , to defer any sense of precise location . The passage works as much on our spatial as on our visual imaginations , our effort not just to see ...
... passage is designed to make us feel as if our necks ached as we read . It is designed , too , to defer any sense of precise location . The passage works as much on our spatial as on our visual imaginations , our effort not just to see ...
Page 118
... passage , is far simpler than that of the preceding lines , with the verb returns followed by an unbroken string of subjects joined by or's . The list takes us gently up the scale of earthly life from plant to animal to human . The ...
... passage , is far simpler than that of the preceding lines , with the verb returns followed by an unbroken string of subjects joined by or's . The list takes us gently up the scale of earthly life from plant to animal to human . The ...
Page 247
... passage , however , the search for particular passages becomes even more pointless , since the Bible everywhere enjoins us to obey , love , and fear the only God . The fact that Adam is offering what Michael will call the " sum of ...
... passage , however , the search for particular passages becomes even more pointless , since the Bible everywhere enjoins us to obey , love , and fear the only God . The fact that Adam is offering what Michael will call the " sum of ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Paradise Lost | 51 |
Meditating on the Creatures Part | 69 |
Copyright | |
2 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
Adam and Eve Adam's angels answer appears beauty become beginning Book bring calls chapter conversation course created creation creatures death describes desire divine earth effect emphasis Eve's evil expressed eyes face fact fair faith Fall fallen Father fear feel follow fruit given gives God's grace hand happy hath hear heard heart heaven heavenly human hymn John knowledge leave light lines live look Lord meaning Michael Milton mind morning move nature once opening Paradise Lost passage perhaps phrase poem poet praise prayer present providence question Raphael reader reason reference Satan says Scripture seems seen sense sight speak speech spirit story suggest sweet tells thee things thou thought tree turn understanding University Press unto voice wisdom wonder words
References to this book
All in All: Unity, Diversity, and the Miltonic Perspective Charles W. Durham,Kristin A. Pruitt Limited preview - 1999 |