Milton's Leveller God

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British
Cover of the book Milton's Leveller God by David Williams, MQUP
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Williams ISBN: 9780773550360
Publisher: MQUP Publication: June 1, 2017
Imprint: MQUP Language: English
Author: David Williams
ISBN: 9780773550360
Publisher: MQUP
Publication: June 1, 2017
Imprint: MQUP
Language: English

Three and a half centuries after Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain’d were written, do Milton’s epic poems still resonate with contemporary concerns? In Milton’s Leveller God, David Williams advances a progressive and democratic interpretation of Milton’s epics to show they are more relevant than ever. Exploring two blind spots in the critical tradition – the failure to read Milton’s poetry as drama and to recognize his depictions of heaven’s political and social evolution – Williams reads Milton’s “great argument” as a rejection of social hierarchy and of patriarchal government that is more attuned to the radical political thought developed by the Levellers during the English Revolution. He traces echoes between Milton’s texts and thousands of pages of Leveller writings that advocated for popular rule, extended suffrage, and religious tolerance, arguing that Milton’s God is still the unacknowledged ground of popular sovereignty. Williams demonstrates that Milton’s Leveller sympathies, expressed in his early prose, conflicted with his official duties for Oliver Cromwell’s government in the 1650s, but his association with the journalist Marchamont Nedham later freed him to imagine an egalitarian republic. In a work that connects the great epic poet in new ways to the politics of his time and our own, Milton’s Leveller God shows how the political landscape of Milton’s work fundamentally unsettles ancient hierarchies of soul and body, man and woman, reason and will, and ruler and ruled.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Three and a half centuries after Paradise Lost and Paradise Regain’d were written, do Milton’s epic poems still resonate with contemporary concerns? In Milton’s Leveller God, David Williams advances a progressive and democratic interpretation of Milton’s epics to show they are more relevant than ever. Exploring two blind spots in the critical tradition – the failure to read Milton’s poetry as drama and to recognize his depictions of heaven’s political and social evolution – Williams reads Milton’s “great argument” as a rejection of social hierarchy and of patriarchal government that is more attuned to the radical political thought developed by the Levellers during the English Revolution. He traces echoes between Milton’s texts and thousands of pages of Leveller writings that advocated for popular rule, extended suffrage, and religious tolerance, arguing that Milton’s God is still the unacknowledged ground of popular sovereignty. Williams demonstrates that Milton’s Leveller sympathies, expressed in his early prose, conflicted with his official duties for Oliver Cromwell’s government in the 1650s, but his association with the journalist Marchamont Nedham later freed him to imagine an egalitarian republic. In a work that connects the great epic poet in new ways to the politics of his time and our own, Milton’s Leveller God shows how the political landscape of Milton’s work fundamentally unsettles ancient hierarchies of soul and body, man and woman, reason and will, and ruler and ruled.

More books from MQUP

Cover of the book The Constant Diplomat by David Williams
Cover of the book Out of the Basement by David Williams
Cover of the book Religion and Greater Ireland by David Williams
Cover of the book The Constitutions that Shaped Us by David Williams
Cover of the book Unlucky to the End by David Williams
Cover of the book Travellers through Empire by David Williams
Cover of the book Fatal Glamour by David Williams
Cover of the book Hollow Tree by David Williams
Cover of the book Promise and Challenge of Party Primary Elections by David Williams
Cover of the book Materialist Ethics and Life-Value by David Williams
Cover of the book McMaster University, Volume 3: 1957-1987 by David Williams
Cover of the book A Place in the Sun by David Williams
Cover of the book Embodiment and the Meaning of Life by David Williams
Cover of the book Without Walls or Barriers by David Williams
Cover of the book The Politics of Popular Culture by David Williams
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy