Is Milton Better than Shakespeare? | 
| Author: Nigel Smith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $12.25
You Save: $10.70 (47%)
New (23) Used (8) from $11.71
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 242251
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 17.5 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 0674028325
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.4
EAN: 9780674028326
ASIN: 0674028325
Publication Date: May 31, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: CHARITY SALE!! New book -- slight shelf wear to dust jacket. 100% of the proceeds benefit the literacy efforts of Books For America.
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
With literature waning in the interest of so many, is Shakespeare the only poet the public can still appreciate? John Milton, as this book makes clear, speaks more powerfully to the eternal questions and to the important concerns of our time. The Milton of this volume is an author for all Americans?conservative, liberal, radical?not only because he was a favorite of the founding fathers, his voice echoing through their texts and our very foundation, but also because his visionary writing embodies the aspirations that have guided Americans seeking ideals of ethical and spiritual perfection. Nigel Smith makes a compelling case for Milton’s relevance to our present situation. In direct and accessible terms, he shows how the seventeenth-century poet, while working to write the greatest heroic poem in the English language, also managed to theorize about religious, political, and civil liberty in ways that matter as much today as they did in Puritanical times. Through concise chapters that chart Milton’s life at the center of the English and European literary and political scenes?as well as his key themes of free will, freedom and slavery, love and sexual liberty, the meaning of creation, and the nature of knowledge?Smith’s work brings Milton, his poetry, and his prose home to readers of our day. A provocative and enlightening introduction, for newcomers and informed readers alike, this book rediscovers and redefines Milton for a new generation, one that especially needs and deserves to know him.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Academic excellence July 18, 2008
This reads like a series of high quality lectures. Unfortunately, the reader does not have the opportunity to question the lecturer when clarification is needed.
 Think of it as counter-aversion therapy June 12, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have a shameful confession. I've lived more than half a century and I'm pretty well-read. But ever since a nightmarish high school experience in English Lit, I've never been able to stomach the thought of reading John Milton--despite the fact that an acquaintance of mine has sworn by him for years.
Nigel Smith's Is Milton Better than Shakespeare? may've changed that. His discussion of Milton's context, poetic style, and contemporary relevance--not to mention the generous amount of Milton's poetry and prose that he actually quotes--goes a long way toward neutralizing my longstanding aversion to Milton. And neutralization just might be the first tentative step toward appreciation.
The book's title has only a rhetorical connection with the book--it's more of a barker's call to get you in the tent than an indication of what you'll find once inside. There's little effort on Smith's part actually to compare Shakespeare and Milton. Instead, what he does is provide what I think is best described as an overview or introduction to Milton intended to persuade us that the poet is well worth reading today. Call it Milton 101. Well, maybe Milton 301.
Smith focuses on what he sees as the major themes in Milton, which include liberty ("at the center of [Milton's] vision," claims Smith), human and social transformation, the paradox of good and evil, and free will and moral responsibility--not to mention divorce in both its social/legal and metaphysical/biblical senses--and uses them to guide the reader to a better appreciation of how to read Milton. A large part of Smith's argument is geared to stressing Milton's relevance, and he draws connections between Miltonic themes and (for example) Islamic terrorism, Founding Father ideals, children's literature, and heavy metal music. But Smith's brief for Milton isn't based (and properly, too) merely on the poet's relevance, but also on the sheer beauty of his artistry.
The contemporary ear may no longer be easily attuned to Miltonic verse (not to mention his teutonically-long prose sentences!). Neither, for that matter, are we entirely comfortable with Shakespeare's cadences and vocabulary. Yet many of us happily know that Shakespeare can be grown into. Perhaps with the help of Smith, something similar can happen with Milton.
|
|
|
