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Reading and Writing Romance in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
Author(s) -
Lahive Colin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/lic3.12256
Subject(s) - romance , paradise , paradise lost , reading (process) , poetry , literature , psychology , art , philosophy , art history , linguistics
This essay argues that Milton's strategic handling of romance in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained can be read as a conscious attempt to reconstitute the genre according to his own Christian focus. Challenging the view that Milton rejected romance outright in his late poems, it points towards some of the ways in which Milton may have thought about romance after the execution of Charles I in 1649 and suggests how the genre could be accommodated to his theopolitical vision. The essay also underscores the necessity for a critical approach that will situate Milton's use of romance in its historical and cultural contexts in the years before and after the Restoration.