The Miltonic moment
By: J. Martin Evans.
Series: Studies in the English Renaissance
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Lexington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 175
Subjects: Milton, John, 1608-1674 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Milton, John, 1608-1674.; Milton, John, 1608-1674.; Milton, John, 1608-1674.; Renaissance -- England.
Description: This new study focuses primarily on three of Milton's best known early poems: On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle (Comus), and Lycidas. These texts share a distinctive perceptual and cognitive structure, which Evans defines as characteristically Miltonic, embracing a single moment that is both ending and beginning. The poems communicate a profound sense of intermediacy because they seem to take place between the boundaries that separate events.

The works illuminated here, which also include Samson Agonistes and Paradise Regained, are all about transition from one form to another: from paganism to Christianity, from youthful inexperience to moral maturity, and from pastoral retirement to heroic engagement.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-165) and index.