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Offering a stimulating introduction to one of the most influential texts of Western literature, this book highlights Milton's imaginative daring, in considering the heretical dimensions of Paradise Lost and its theology. It situates Milton's great poem in its literary, religious, and political contexts and includes an extremely useful and newly updated guide to further reading. First Edition Hb (1993): 0-521-39303-5 First Edition Pb (1993): 0-521-39899-1
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This page intentionally left blank L A N D M A R K S O F W O R L D L I T E R AT U R E Milton Paradise Lost L A N D M A R K S O F W O R L D L I T E R AT U R E Second Editions Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji – Richard Bowring Aeschylus: The Oresteia – Simon Goldhill Virgil: The Aeneid – K. W. Gransden, new edition by S. J. Harrison Homer: The Odyssey – Jasper Griffin Dante: The Divine Comedy – Robin Kirkpatrick Milton: Paradise Lost – David Loewenstein Camus: The Stranger – Patrick McCarthy Joyce: Ulysses – Vincent Sherry Homer: The Iliad – Michael Silk Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales – Winthrop Wetherbee M I LT O N Paradise Lost DAVID LOEWENSTEIN Department of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521832120 © Cambridge University Press 1993, 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2004 isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-511-16490-3 eBook (EBL) 0-511-16490-4 eBook (EBL) isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-521-83212-0 hardback 0-521-83212-8 hardback isbn-13 isbn-10 978-0-521-53979-1 paperback 0-521-53979-x paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For Stella Amadea The world is all before you . . . Contents Preface and note on abbreviations page ix Chronology xi The chronology of events in Paradise Lost xviii 1 Paradise Lost in Milton’s career and age 1 1 “Long choosing, and beginning late” 1 2 Lycidas 7 3 Writing in the English Revolution and the Restoration 11 4 Milton’s blindness 19 5 Milton’s theological heresies 23 2 Interpreting Paradise Lost 29 6 “Say first what cause”: Paradise Lost and beginnings 29 7 “To raise / That Name”: Paradise Lost and epic ambition 31 8 The voice of the poet 37 9 Answerable styles 46 10 Satan: daring ambition and heroic ideology 11 Hell: geographical place and internal state 12 God, providence, and free will 72 13 Milton’s Eden 78 14 Adam and Eve and human sexuality 81 15 The material cosmos of Paradise Lost 89 55 66 vii viii Contents 16 17 18 19 3 War in Heaven 93 Creation 100 The tragedy of the Fall 103 Postlapsarian history and the inner paradise The literary after-life of Paradise Lost 122 20 Revisions from the Restoration to the Romantics Guide to further reading 130 111 122 Preface and note on abbreviations Milton’s friend and contemporary, the poet Andrew Marvell, was struck by the sheer audacity and boldness of Paradise Lost: When I beheld the Poet blind, yet bol