Milton's Visual Imagination

To tell the story of humankind's Fall requires the description of much that has never been seen - from the war in Heaven, to life in Eden before the first sin. In Milton's Visual Imagination Stephen B. Dobranski discovers new allusions and previously ignored contexts that show how Milton enriches his biblical source text with acute and sometimes astonishing visual details. He contends that Milton's imagery - traditionaly disparaged by critics - advances the epic's narrative while expressing the author's heterodox beliefs. In particular, Milton exploits the meaning of objects and gestures to overcome the inherent difficulty of his subjuect, and to accommodate seventeenth-century readers. Bringing together Milton's material philosophy with an analysis of both his poetic tradition and cultural circumstances, this discerning study is a major contribution to our understanding of early modern visual cutlure as well as Milton's epic, the preeminent work of the English literary canon.

Year

2021

Language

English

Publisher

University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations

Editions

5

ISBN

9781107476240

Data source: Wikidata