The Milton Encyclopedia

摘要

In the past Milton was regarded as second only to Shakespeare in conventional literary opinion. Some doubts on this elevation of Milton were expressed now and then, particularly by T.S. Eliot and F.R. Leavis in the twentieth century (though Dr Johnson had expressed some reservations in the eighteenth century). The various critical attitudes towards him are surveyed in Critical Tradition in Milton Studies, one of the articles in this encyclopedia. But ever since he wrote his poetry and prose in the seventeenth century his stature has never seriously been questioned. Academics, students and readers in general need to know his work, at whatever level. A good foundation to an appreciation is supplied here with the entry on the Life and Works of John Milton. Reading this entry could profitably be followed with the article on Prosody, denned here as the "study of versification", since "Milton was keenly aware of the potency of such patterning" and was "a prosodic innovator and experimenter".