Destabilizing Milton : 'Paradise Lost' and the Poetics of Incertitude

Annotation Destabilizing Milton challenges the widely accepted view of Milton as a poet of absolute, unquestioning certainty. In Paradise Lost, Milton confronts the failure of the Revolution by creating a poem that refuses to grant the reader any interpretive stability or certainty. Doubts can no longer be contained and concepts once marked by a 'fundamental immobility' now seem unstable at best. Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes equally reflect Milton's deep ambivalences after the collapse of the Republic. Far from confirming his earlier ideals, in his later poetry, Milton subjects his culture's most cherished beliefs, such as the goodness of God, to withering scrutiny, while refusing the comfort of orthodox answers Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-24 “Warring Chains of Signifiers”: Metaphoric Ambivalence and the Politics of Paradise Lost....Pages 25-42 Paradise Lost, the Miltonic “Or,” and the Poetics of Incertitude....Pages 43-59 “England a Free Nation”: Milton’s Prose and the Ancient Constitution....Pages 61-81 “New Laws, New Counsels”: The Problem of Politics in Paradise Lost....Pages 83-105 Incertitude, Authority, and Milton’s God....Pages 107-125 “The More to Draw His Love”: Paradise Lost and the Critique of Misogyny....Pages 127-154 Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and the Conclusion of Milton’s Career....Pages 155-176 Back Matter....Pages 177-230 This text challenges the widely accepted view of Milton as a poet of absolute, unquestioning certainty. In 'Paradise Lost', Milton confronts the failure of the Revolution by creating a poem that refuses to grant the reader any interpretive stability or certainty