Milton Studies: Volume 50 - Hardcover

Published annually by Duquesne University Press as an important forum for Milton scholarship and criticism, Milton Studies focuses on various aspects of John Milton's life and writing, including biography; literary history; Milton's work in its literary, intellectual, political, or cultural contexts; Milton's influence on or relationship to other writers; and the history of critical response to his work. The eight essays in this volume offer a variety of fresh subjects and cutting-edge approaches to Milton's prose and poetry. The eight essays in Milton Studies 50 offer profound insights into Milton's poems, ranging from Comus and Lycidas, to Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. One essay offers an entirely new direction for Milton scholarship, examining how he may have influenced Seventh-day Adventism. The initial essay tracks the many cultural voices that constitute a network in which the Lady of Comus is situated, and her character is astutely analyzed. The second entry traces the gradual emergence of a voice in Lycidas, which becomes that of a so-called reader-speaker, who develops a unique perspective on the many debating and competing voices in this elegy. The third essay breaks new ground on the topic of chaos in Milton's Paradise Lost, offering a bold and innovative reading of this often-interpreted phenomenon. The fourth essay is a revolutionary study of alternative masculinities in Paradise Lost, with an emphasis on systems of sex and gender embedded in the epic. The fifth essay focuses on Milton's adaptation of the beatitudes from Matthew's Gospel, notably in Eve's lyric to Adam in Book IV of Paradise Lost. The sixth essay examines the myth of Persephone and its association with flowers in the classical tradition, shedding new light on the multifarious implications of Milton's similes. The seventh essay studies the phenomenon of oaths and vows-making and breaking them-in Samson Agonistes. The final entry dwells on evidence that Milton may have affected Ellen Gould White, prophetess of Seventh-day Adventism, and American theologians in general. Hardcover is un-jacketed.

Albert C Labriola was a professor of English and Distinguished University Professor at Duquesne University and secretary of the Milton Society of America. He was also the general editor of the Medieval & Renaissance Literary Studies book series. He was named the Honored Scholar of the Milton Society of America for 2000.