Milton's Epics and the Book of Psalms / / Mary Ann Radzinowicz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1980-1999
• VerfasserIn: Radzinowicz, Mary Ann,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2014]; ©1989
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1019
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (246 p.)

The Psalms were of intense interest to Milton, who read them not only as impassioned voices conveying significant moments in life's journey, but also as examples of various genres, each containing rhetorical and poetical conventions appropriate to the expressive intent of the speaker. In this book Mary Ann Radzinowicz describes the pervasive influence of these biblical works on Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. She shows that the dramatic moments when Milton's characters respond to the numinous are shaped by his appreciation of the lyricism of the Psalms and by his studies of their thematic relationships.This book traces the density of poetic voices in the epicsvoices arising from the echoing of psalm kindsand the ironic paralleling of important episodes in them. At the same time, Radzinowicz's book relates to each other Milton's two remarkable poetic oeuvres derived from the Old and New Testaments: one an anonymous, powerful, ancient, worship-centered, lyric work, the other an individually determined, revolutionary, heroic work.Originally published in 1989.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION: How Milton Read the Book of Psalms: His Formal, Stylistic, and Thematic Analysis -- PART I. Paradise Regained -- ONE. "Where God is prais'd aright": Psalm Themes -- TWO. "With Hymns, our Psalms . . . our Hebrew Songs and Harps": Psalm Genres -- INTERCHAPTER. "Sion's songs, to all true tasts excelling" -- PART II. Paradise Lost -- THREE. "Smit with the love of sacred Song": Psalm Genres -- FOUR. "Light . . . from the Fountain of light": Psalm Themes -- CONCLUSION -- WORKS CONSULTED -- INDEX