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 xxix
... theology , with both Milton and Samson , as Victoria Kahn suggests , " attempt [ ing ] to think the exception in the realm of politics and theology . " Kahn knows full well the usual associations between the violence exercised in the ...
... theology , with both Milton and Samson , as Victoria Kahn suggests , " attempt [ ing ] to think the exception in the realm of politics and theology . " Kahn knows full well the usual associations between the violence exercised in the ...
Page 11
... theology grounded in love , mercy , and forgiveness . It is a theology , as becomes manifest in Paradise Regain'd , in which God's power modulates into mercy , His terror into meekness and peace , " reconciling all to one another ...
... theology grounded in love , mercy , and forgiveness . It is a theology , as becomes manifest in Paradise Regain'd , in which God's power modulates into mercy , His terror into meekness and peace , " reconciling all to one another ...
Page 153
... theology upon it . In any event , it is less the Samson allusion than the theology containing it that matters here ; for that theology has an important bearing on Milton's poem and perhaps on one of its chief cruxes . Confusion has been ...
... theology upon it . In any event , it is less the Samson allusion than the theology containing it that matters here ; for that theology has an important bearing on Milton's poem and perhaps on one of its chief cruxes . Confusion has been ...
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