Dante and Milton : : The "Commedia" and "Paradise Lost" / / Irene Samuel.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Samuel, Irene,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1966
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)

Comparisons have frequently been made between the works of Dante and Milton, more often than not by critics with a definite predilection one or the other poet. The author of this systematic comparison has approached the task without partisanship, but with a warm admiration for both poets. It is her contention that, although Dante was generally out of favor during the seventeenth century, even in Italy, Milton had read the Divina Commedia sympathetically and with care by the time he came to write Paradise Lost. In substantiation Professor Samuel cites many parallel uses of language, imagery, theme, and method, while also taking note of divergences. Source materials are given in the appendixes, including Milton's references to Dante and a list of previously published comparisons.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- I. Preliminaries -- Purgatorio and the Dream of Eve -- Satan and the "Diminisht” Stars -- II. Milton’s Reading of Dante -- III. “Higher Argument Remains” -- IV. Hell and Its Populace -- Introduction -- "The Sport of Winds” -- "O con Forza o con Frode” -- The Valley of Serpents -- The Ultimate Fixity -- V. Heaven and Eden -- Introduction -- The Chain of Being -- The Life in Bliss -- Wrath in Heaven -- The Earthly Paradise -- VI. The Purgatorial Way -- Introduction -- The Two Instructions -- Reason and Free Will -- The Politics of Vision -- VII. The Narrative of Meaning -- Appendix A: A Table of Milton’s References to Dante before Paradise Lost -- Appendix B: The Tavole of Benedetto Buommattei facing -- Appendix C: Comments on the Relation of Milton and Dante, in Chronological Sequence -- APPENDIX D: The Proems of Paradise Lost and the Commedia -- Index of Names and Tides