Legal Epic - 'Paradise Lost' and the Early Modern Law

The seventeenth century witnessed some of the most important jurisprudential changes in England s history, yet it is relatively untouched territory in the rich field of literature and law. Alison Chapman s book fills this gap by situating the poet and polemicist John Milton in the center of late-seventeenth-century legal history. One of England s greatest poets, Milton was arguably also the most litigious, and he had an exceptionally wide and deep knowledge of law and judicial processes. While this book ranges widely across Milton s life and work, its primary focus is on the role that law plays in "Paradise Lost." Throughout "Paradise Lost," Chapman shows, Milton invites his readers to judge the ways of God both according to the dictates of reason and conscience and also according to prevailing ideas about legal justice. Law, Chapman argues, forms a crucial albeit unrecognized part of Milton s attempt in" Paradise Lost" to justify the ways of God to men. "

About the author

Alison A. Chapman is professor of English at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is the author of Patrons and Patron Saints in Early Modern English Literature.

Product details

• Authors: Alison A Chapman, Alison A. Chapman
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2017
• EAN: 9780226435138
• ISBN: 978-0-226-43513-8
• No. of pages: 248
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Law > International law, foreign law; LAW / Legal History, LITERARY CRITICISM / Renaissance, POETRY / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Language: reference & general, Literary studies: general