Paradise Lost and the Making of English Literary Criticism

It identifies the early reception of Paradise Lost as a site of contest over the place of literature in political and religious controversy and explains how it prompted its earliest readers and critics to innovate new critical strategies

List of contents

Acknowledgements
Frequently Cited Works
Introduction: Birth Narratives
Chapter 1
Milton's Profaned Pen: Paradise Lost and the Political Anxiety of the Restoration
Chapter 2
"Sad Conclusions:" Paradise Lost, John Dryden, and Political Genre
Chapter 3
"So Bold in the Design:" John Dennis and the Sublime Paradise Lost
Chapter 4
"The Merit of Being the First:" Jacob Tonson's 1695 Paradise Lost and Hume's Annotations
Chapter 5
The Great Explainer: Addison's Return to Paradise Lost
Chapter 6
"Such Scorn of Enemies:" Richard Bentley's Paradise Lost
Bibliography
Index

About the author

David A. Harper is the former Professor and Head of the Department of English and Philosophy at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. He is now teaching in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York, UK.

Product details

• Authors: David A. Harper, Harper David A.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.05.2025
• EAN: 9781032633428
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3263342-8
• No. of pages: 202
• Series: Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama > Poetry; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Politics, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Poetry / Poems