Title Delirious Milton : the Fate of the Poet in Modernity

Published Cambridge : Harvard University Press, Oct. 2009

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Description 1 online resource (224 pages) Contents Introduction; 1 Artificial Paradises; 2 Milton's Halo; 3 Milton and Modernity; 4 Why, This Is Chaos, Nor Am I Out of It; 5 God's Body: Concept and Metaphor; 6 A Bleeding Rib: Milton and Classical Culture; 7 Milton's Choice of Subject; 8 Revolution in Paradise Regained; 9 Samson and the Heap of the Dead; Notes; Index Summary Annotation Composed after the collapse of his political hopes, Milton's great poems Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes are an effort to understand what it means to be a poet on the threshold of a post-theological world. The argument of Delirious Milton, inspired in part by the architectural theorist Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York, is that Milton's creative power is drawn from a rift at the center of his consciousness over the question of creation itself. This rift forces the poet to oscillate deliriously between two incompatible perspectives, at once affirming and denying the presence of spirit in what he creates. From one perspective the act of creation is centered in God and the purpose of art is to imitate and praise the Creator. From the other perspective the act of creation is centered in the human, in the built environment of the modern world. The oscillation itself, continually affirming and negating the presence of spirit, of a force beyond the human, is what Gordon Teskey means by delirium. He concludes that the modern artist, far from being characterized by what Benjamin (after Baudelaire) called "loss of the aura," is invested, as never before, with a shamanistic spiritual power that is mediated through art Audience Trade Harvard University Press Subject Milton, John, 1608-1674 -- Aesthetics Milton, John, 1608-1674 -- Criticism and interpretation SUBJECT Milton, John, 1608-1674 fast Subject Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) -- History -- 17th century Poetry -- Authorship -- History -- 17th century Poetry -- Authorship -- Psychological aspects Hallucinations and illusions in literature. Delirium in literature. Aesthetics, British. Aesthetics Aesthetics, British Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) Delirium in literature Hallucinations and illusions in literature Poetry -- Authorship Poetry -- Authorship -- Psychological aspects Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book Author Teskey, G ISBN 9780674035096 0674035097

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