Milton's prudent ambiguities : words and signs in his poetry and prose / Martin Kuester.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kuester, Martin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Milton, John, 1608-1674--Language.

Milton, John.

Milton, John, 1608-1674--Literary style.

Milton, John, 1608-1674.

English language--Early modern, 1500-1700--Style.

English language.

English language--Early modern--Style.

English language--Early modern, 1500-1700--Spoken English.

Speech in literature.

English language--Early modern--Spoken English.

English language--Early modern.

Literary style.

Physical Description:

vi, 177 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, [2009]

Summary:

This new reading of Paradise Lost concentrates on the analysis of linguistic concepts underlying Milton's epic, and then builds on those concepts with a fresh interpretation that considers the role that Raphael plays in it. Relying on a narrative model that was already well known in the seventeenth century and was baptized godgame by the twentieth-century British novelist John Fowles, it reinterprets the role of the arch-angel as that of a tool in the great plan of Milton's Father's "ironic" teaching. This book complements a basically linguistic approach to Milton's poetry and prose with concepts such as that of retraction adopted from "heretical" Milton critics Saurat, Hill, and Empson.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Theories of Language in the Seventeenth Century: From Essentialism to Nominalism, from the Bible to the Royal Society (and Beyond) 11

3 The Question of Language in Milton's Works 43

4 Conclusion 153.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [157]-170) and index.

ISBN:

9780761845287

0761845283

9780761845270

0761845275

9780761845294

0761845291

OCLC:

301882045