John Milton's major poems have long provoked wide-ranging judgements about the purposes of his biblical engagement. In this elegant and insightful study, Phillip J. Donnelly transforms our common perceptions about Milton's writing. He challenges the traditional assumption that the poet shared our modern view that reason is a capacity whose purpose is to control nature. Instead, Milton's conception of reason - both human and divine - is bound up with a poetic sense of difference, a capacity for being faithful to a goodness and beauty that survives the effects of human frailty in the fall. Providing fresh new readings of Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, Donnelly gives us important new perspectives on Milton's aesthetics, theology and politics. Read more ASIN B007NW85IW XRay Not Enabled ISBN13 978-0511505607 Edition 1st Language English File size 1.0 MB Page Flip Enabled Publisher Cambridge University Press Word Wise Enabled Print length 280 pages Accessibility Learn more Screen Reader Supported Publication date February 19, 2009 Enhanced typesetting Enabled