Description
Book SynopsisFollowing the editors’ introduction to the collection, the essays in
Scholarly Milton examine the nature of Milton’s own formidable scholarship and its implications for his prose and poetry–“scholarly Milton” the writer–as well as subsequent scholars’ historical and theoretical framing of Milton studies as an object of scholarly attention–“scholarly Milton” as at first an emergent and later an established academic discipline. The essays are particularly concerned with the topics of the ethical ends of learning, of Milton’s attention to the trivium within the Renaissance humanist educational system, and the development of scholarly commentary on Milton’s writings. Originally selected from the best essays presented at the 2015 Conference on John Milton in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the essays have been considerably revised and expanded for publication.
Trade ReviewReviews'"Scholarly Milton" remains an ongoing, transformative, intellectual, and bookish industry, showcasing the expansiveness of his learning and that of Miltonists who reap and contribute to the pages and rewards thereof. And here, the exercise of converting presentations, specifically those delivered at the final Conference on John Milton at Murfreesboro, into fully developed essays has paid off substantially in the communal production of
Scholarly Milton.'
Elizabeth Sauer,
Modern Philology'In the impressive lead essay, Achinstein asserts that in the tracts, Milton’s practice of the Erasmian humanist philosophical tradition mitigates the limitations imposed ‘by the hermeneutic principles of biblical interpretation as
sola scriptura’.
These essays are of consistent high quality, and I cheerfully recommend the volume overall.' David V. Urban,
The Year's Work in English Studies"This collection has the potential to be a repository of and catalyst for continued reflection on the importance of scholarship and will certainly generate new scholarly work on Milton and beyond."
David A. Harper,
Milton Quarterly (55.3-4)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction: Scholarly Milton
Part 1: MILTON AND THE ETHICAL ENDS OF LEARNING
1. Sharon Achinstein High Enterprise: Milton and the Genres of Scholarship in
the Divorce Tracts
2. Sam Hushagen, Typology and Milton’s Masterplot
3. James Ross Macdonald The Devil as Teacher in Paradise Lost
4. J. Antonio Templanza “The First and Wisest of Them All”: Paradise Regained
and the Beginning of Thinking
5. Gardner Campbell Learning, Love, and the Freedom of the Double Bind
Part 2: MILTON AND THE TRIVIUM
1. Emma Annette Wilson Re-Visiting Milton’s (Logical) God: Empson 2015
2. Russell Hugh McConnell God’s Grammar: Milton’s Parsing of the Divine
3. Joshua R. Held Raphael’s Peroratorio in Paradise Lost: Balancing
Rhetorical Passion in Virgil and Paul
Part 3: MILTON AND SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY
1. Emily E. Stelzer Euphrasy, Rue, Polysemy, and Repairing the Ruins
2. Nicholas Allred Paradise Finding Aids
3. Edward Jones Political Diplomacy, Personal Conviction, and the Fraught Nature of Milton’s Letters of State
