Shifting Contexts: Reinterpreting Samson AgonistesSamson Agonistes is the climax and completion of Milton's poetic vision. As such, it has become the work at which the critical controversies in Milton studies converge and from which new critical perspectives on Milton's poems emerge. This book contends that there are several Samsons in the dramatic poem and multiple contexts and various traditions that bring to light Milton's unique rendition of a kaleidoscopic protagonist. To achieve its purposes, this book forges and deploys a new critical vocabulary of paramount importance not only to Miltonists but to critical theorists generally.Milton's religious and political thinking, his use of prosody and verse, his outlook on tragedy, and the like were all reexamined. Since this revisionist view of Samson Agonistes began to develop, it has unfolded with a decisiveness and momentum that now challenge the traditional view, if not overthrow it. The dramatic poem's ambiguities highlight Milton's innovative adaptation of the biblical narrative concerning Samson, undermine the traditional ideas of Samson's election by God and his redemption, question the typological alignment of the Hebraic and Christian scriptures whereby Samson traditionally is perceived as a "hero of faith" |
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Page 50
... death of Death ; tri- umphing over Hell , and those Spirits of Darknesse.106 Without ever acknowledging so , Grotius and Sandys here use language that invokes the character of Samson and the Judges coda to his story - " So the dead whom ...
... death of Death ; tri- umphing over Hell , and those Spirits of Darknesse.106 Without ever acknowledging so , Grotius and Sandys here use language that invokes the character of Samson and the Judges coda to his story - " So the dead whom ...
Page 170
... death , then by his life : so Christ . . . saved more by death then by life . " 49 The first part of the formulation , echoing Judges 16.30 is clichéd and often is attached to another cliché : that Christ destroys more effectively than ...
... death , then by his life : so Christ . . . saved more by death then by life . " 49 The first part of the formulation , echoing Judges 16.30 is clichéd and often is attached to another cliché : that Christ destroys more effectively than ...
Page 175
... Death . And it is cer- tainly true . But that will not answer the reason formerly alleged . Whether we say , that Samson's death was a figure of Christ's by the intent of Samson , or by the intent of God , Whose provi- dence so ordered ...
... Death . And it is cer- tainly true . But that will not answer the reason formerly alleged . Whether we say , that Samson's death was a figure of Christ's by the intent of Samson , or by the intent of God , Whose provi- dence so ordered ...
Contents
ONE Reinterpreting Samson Agonistes | 1 |
Two Justifying Samsons Ways | 67 |
THREE Glorious For A While | 101 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
1671 poetic volume according Annotations Antichrist Arminian Bible biblical Book of Judges Cambridge Chorus Christian Christos Paschon Christs Passion Christus Patiens commentary context criticism critique Cromwell's culture Dalila David death Delilah Dickson divine Doctrina dragon drama eagle early modern enemies Epistle Euripidean Euripides evil example faith Genesis George Sandys God's Grotius's Hebrews Heracles Hercules hermeneutic hero heroism Hugo Grotius Ibid idolatry interpretation interrogation Israel Jacob's prophecy Jephthah Jesus John Goodwin John Lightfoot John Milton Joseph Lightfoot London Lord Milton Studies Milton's poem Milton's Samson Milton's tragedy numbered Oliver Cromwell Paradise Lost Paradise Regain'd Perkins Philistines phoenix play poet poetry political question reading reprint reprobate Revelation revenge saints Samson Agonistes Samson story Sandys Satan scriptural Sermons serpent seventeenth century Sophompaneas spirit temple Testament theology Thomas tion tradition Trapp tribe tribe of Dan typology University Press violence vols William writings York