Divided Empire: Milton's Political ImageryIn Divided Empire, Robert T. Fallon examines the influence of John Milton's political experience on his great poems: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. This study is a natural sequel to Fallon's previous book, Milton in Government, which examined Milton's decade of service as Secretary for Foreign Languages to the English Republic. Milton's works are crowded with political figures—kings, counselors, senators, soldiers, and envoys—all engaged in a comparable variety of public acts—debate, decree, diplomacy, and warfare—in a manner similar to those who exercised power on the world stage during his time in public office. Traditionally, scholars have cited this imagery for two purposes: first, to support studies of the poet's political allegiances as reflected in his prose and his life; and, second, to demonstrate that his works are sympathetic to certain ideological positions popular in present times. Fallon argues that Paradise Lost is not a political testament, however, and to read its lines as a critique of allegiances and ideologies outside the work is limit the range and scope of critical inquiry and to miss the larger purpose of the political imagery within the poem. That imagery, the author proposes, like that of all Milton's later works, serves to illuminate the spiritual message, a vision of the human soul caught up in the struggle between vast metaphysical forces of good and evil. Fallon seeks to enlarge the range of critical inquiry by assessing the influence of personal and historical events upon art, asking, as he puts it, "not what the poetry says about the events, but what the events say about the poetry." Divided Empire probes, not Milton's judgment on his sources, but the use he made of them. |
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... Cromwell entered into a close commercial and military alliance with France against Spain , and Charles II was forced ... Cromwell's assumption of power in 1654 and served the Protectorate loyally during its five - year existence ; and in ...
... Cromwell , whom the poet praised unreservedly , and God Almighty for all the world like the king of England , one is hard - pressed to know where to place the poet within the political spectrum of his day . One can deconstruct , of ...
... Cromwell , we need not feel compelled to deduce from the similarities that Milton thought Cromwell wicked ; 29 or if God is depicted as a king , we should not feel obliged to contemplate the possibility that the poet was a closet ...
... Cromwell assumed the royal prerogative . David Masson lists eighty - two decrees issued by the Lord Protector during his first eight months in office ( The Life of John Milton 4 : 557-66 ) . Cromwell called two Parliaments ( one for two ...
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Contents
1 | |
25 | |
To Reign in Hell | 55 |
Heaven and Hell | 83 |
The Lords of the Earth | 97 |
Divided Empire | 119 |
The Final Things | 143 |
Embattled Humanity | 161 |
Works Cited | 180 |
Index | 186 |