Toward Samson Agonistes : : The Growth of Milton's Mind / / Mary Ann Radzinowicz.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1931-1979
• VerfasserIn: Radzinowicz, Mary Ann,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©1978
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1644
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (250 p.)

The endurance of a work of art such as Samson Agonistes, this book suggests, derives from its incorporation of the principle of change as the very foundation of its permanence. In a deft and perceptive analysis, Mary Ann Radzinowicz shows how the poem embodies the principle of change, reveals Milton's perpetual concerns, and illuminates the course of his poetic and intellectual development. The author holds that Samson Agonistes represents the culmination of Milton's poetic œuvre. Its subject is growth, and the tragedy imitates a Biblical story of movement from self-destruction to self-transcendence. In each section of her book, the author considers the poem in a different context or area of Milton's thought. Each new aspect suggests a widening circle of implication as the discussion moves from Milton's dialectic to the representation of tragic failure, from change and growth as themes to the discovery of history as tragic design.Originally published in 1978.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 -- Introduction -- I. "Labouring thy mind": Samson Agonistes and Milton's Dialectic -- Introduction -- 1. "As may stand best with verisimilitude The Imitation of Thought -- 2. "My self, my Sepulchre, a moving Grave. The Divided Mind -- 3. My self? my conscience and internal peace. The Tempered Passions -- II. "Each his own Deliverer": Samson Agonistes and Milton's Conception of History -- Introduction -- 4. "So mutable are all the ways of men". God's Design in Human History, the Record of the Past -- 5. "Wanid by oft experience". God's Promise, the Prophecy of Community -- 6. "The rarer thy example stands". God's Champion and the State's Deliverer -- III. "Lay hold on this occasion": Samson Agonistes and Milton's Politics -- Introduction -- 7. "That by occasion hence I might begin Israel's Deliverance". Political Intention in Milton's Shorter Poems -- 8. "Occasions drew me". Political Intention in Milton's Prose -- 9. "To what can I be useful, wherein serve My Nation". The Political Significance of Samson Agonistes -- IV. "Thou hast fulfiU'd the work": Samson Agonistes and Milton's Ethics -- Introduction -- 10. "Apt words have power to swage". Biblical Poetry and Medicinal Truth -- 11. "Be calm, and healing words ... admit". Biblical Poetry and Moral Example -- 12. "Samson hath quit himself like Samson". The Ethics of Good Works and the Tragedy of Educative Suffering -- V. "Th' unsearchable dispose" and "New acquist of true experience": Samson Agonistes and Milton's Theology and Poetics. Samson Agonistes and Milton's Theology and Poetics -- Introduction -- 13. "At least vain reasonings down": Rational Theology and Progressive Revelation -- 14. "I was ... a person rais'd". Orthodoxy and the Individual Conscience -- 15. "Perswaded that This was from God". The Role of the Poet -- Appendixes -- A. A Table of Suggested Sonnet Datings and the Subgroups Into Which They Fall -- B. Psalm Citations in Samson Agonistes -- C. A Schematic Outline of de Doctrina Christiana, Book II -- D. A Topical Synopsis of De Doctrina Christiana, Book I -- E. The Date of Composition of Samson Agonistes -- Bibliography -- Index