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Exiled From Light: Divine Law, Morality, and Violence in Milton's Samson Agonistes »

Authors: Derek N.C. Wood
ISBN-13: 9780802048486, ISBN-10: 080204848X
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Date Published: July 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Derek N.C. Wood

DEREK N.C. WOOD is Professor of English at St Francis Xavier University.

Book Synopsis

Wood proposes that Milton's Samson is an emblematic embodiment of Old Testament consciousness as rigorous, incomplete, literalistic, and uncomprehending, fashioned by the old Mosaic Law, without the amelioration of Christ's charity and forgiveness.

Booknews

Challenging the general consensus that the play's protagonist is some kind of saintly Christian hero, Woods (English, St. Francis Xavier U.) argues that he is an emblematic embodiment of Old Testament consciousness, his blindness signifying the darkness before the coming of Christ. He looks at such aspects as the author's voice, love and marriage, structure, and Milton and politics in old age. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

	Acknowledgments
	Abbreviations
	Preface
1	Introduction: The Critics and Some Problems of Meaning	3
2	Intertextuality, Indirection, and Indeterminacy	27
3	Fictional Consciousness and the Author's Voice	46
4	Tragedy: Theory, Form, and Meaning	60
5	Exiled from Light: Sin, Regeneration, the Hero of Faith	80
6	Samson and Dalila: Love and Marriage	99
7	Samson: Divine Impulsion in the Hero of Faith, Charity, and the Imitation of Christ	118
8	The Structure of Samson Agonistes	140
9	Milton and Politics in Old Age	166
	Epilogue	192
	Appendix	193