Milton and the Natural World: Science and Poetry in Paradise LostKaren Edwards offers a fresh view of Paradise Lost, in which Milton is shown to represent Eden's plants and animals in the light of the century's new, scientific natural history. Debunking the fabulous lore of the old science, the poem embraces new imaginative and symbolic possibilities for depicting the natural world, suggested by the speculations of Milton's scientific contemporaries including Robert Boyle, Thomas Browne and John Evelyn. The natural world in Paradise Lost, with its flowers and trees, insects and beasts, emerges as a text alive with meaning. |
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Milton and the Natural World: Science and Poetry in Paradise Lost Karen L. Edwards No preview available - 2000 |
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Adam animals appear argues Bacon balm Beasts Bible body botanical Boyle Boyle's Browne Browne's called Cambridge University Press causes cedar chapter cites claim collections color common Creation creatures critical Culture described discourse discussion Divine early earth edition effects England English Eve's Evelyn experience experimental explains fact Fall fish flowers fruit garden Gerard God's griffin head Herball human Ibid implies interpretation John kind knowledge London look meaning Milton natural history natural world Naturalists notes notion observation Order Oxford Paradise Lost Parkinson passage perhaps philosophy plants poem political possibility provides Pseudodoxia Epidemica question Raphael's readers reading refers Renaissance representation represented Robert roses Satan Science scientific seems sense serpent seventeenth century style suggests symbolic term things Thomas Browne tion traditional trans tree true understanding University Press vols whale writing