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Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the great works of literature, of
any time and in any language. Marked by Milton's characteristic
erudition it is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in
ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon
generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and
its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of
Western culture. First published in 1968, with John Carey's
Complete Shorter Poems, Alastair Fowler's Paradise Lost is widely
acknowledged to be the most authoritative edition of this
compelling work. An unprecedented amount of detailed annotation
accompanies the full text of the first (1667) edition, providing a
wealth of contextual information to enrich and enhance the reader's
experience. Notes on composition and context are combined with a
clear explication of the multitude allusions Milton called to the
poem's aid. The notes also summarise and illuminate the vast body
of critical attention the poem has attracted, synthesizing the
ancient and the modern to provide a comprehensive account both of
the poem's development and its reception. Meanwhile, Alastair
Fowler's invigorating introduction surveys the whole poem and looks
in detail at such matters as Milton's theology, metrical structure
and, most valuably, his complex and imaginary astronomy. The result
is an enduring landmark in the field of Milton scholarship and an
invaluable guide for readers of all levels.
This popular anthology provides a collection of the most
significant Victoran verse xxx; including some minor figures
notably John Clare, Emily Bronte and James Thomson. Fully
annotated, this collection contains introductions to individual
poets, headnotes to the poems and full and informative footnotes.
It represents Victorian poetic taste at its best and is the ideal
companion for everyone interested in poetry of the period.
This popular anthology provides a collection of the most
significant Victoran verse xxx; including some minor figures
notably John Clare, Emily Bronte and James Thomson. Fully
annotated, this collection contains introductions to individual
poets, headnotes to the poems and full and informative footnotes.
It represents Victorian poetic taste at its best and is the ideal
companion for everyone interested in poetry of the period.
Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the great works of literature, of
any time and in any language. Marked by Milton's characteristic
erudition it is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in
ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon
generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and
its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of
Western culture. First published in 1968, with John Carey's
Complete Shorter Poems, Alastair Fowler's Paradise Lost is widely
acknowledged to be the most authoritative edition of this
compelling work. An unprecedented amount of detailed annotation
accompanies the full text of the first (1667) edition, providing a
wealth of contextual information to enrich and enhance the reader's
experience. Notes on composition and context are combined with a
clear explication of the multitude allusions Milton called to the
poem's aid. The notes also summarise and illuminate the vast body
of critical attention the poem has attracted, synthesizing the
ancient and the modern to provide a comprehensive account both of
the poem's development and its reception. Meanwhile, Alastair
Fowler's invigorating introduction surveys the whole poem and looks
in detail at such matters as Milton's theology, metrical structure
and, most valuably, his complex and imaginary astronomy. The result
is an enduring landmark in the field of Milton scholarship and an
invaluable guide for readers of all levels.
Remembered Words is a selection of Alastair Fowler's essays on
genre, realism, and the emblem (three interrelated subjects),
published over six decades. It offers readers a way to arrive at a
sense of how approaches to these subjects have changed over that
period. Specifically, it shows how genre has come to be understood
in terms of family resemblance theory. Remembered Words argues that
realism can be seen as altering historically, so that Renaissance
realism, for example, differs from those of later periods. Similar
changes are traced in the emblem, which Fowler shows to be not only
a particular genre, but an element of various kinds of realism.
Famous passages in ancient literature are remembered in the
familiar emblems of the Renaissance; and Renaissance emblems form
the basis of metaphors in later literature. Meanwhile, the general
approach of the critic and the reader has been altering over the
years-as becomes evident when one takes into account the time-scale
of sixty years (an unusually long working life for a critic).
Modern theoretical approaches-which are often casually regarded as
self-evident-may appear less inevitable and more arbitrary. This is
not to say that they are necessarily wrong, just that they need to
be argued for. Remembered Words is intended for senior
undergraduates and for graduate students, who may use it to form
ideas of Fowler's approach and that of his contemporaries and
predecessors over the last half century.
A study of numerology in Elizabethan poetry, with some background
studies which base the subject in classical learning, the works of
Dante and Petrarch, and the esoteric traditions of the humanists.
The central assumption of numerological criticism is that there
exist works written in this tradition which show a correspondence
between structure and meaning on a numerical plane; that is, one in
which the number of the constituent parts (lines, stanzas, sonnets
in a sequence) expresses a major aspect of the meaning. For
instance parts of the whole can be arranged to represent months of
the year and so on. Such structures of time and the triumphal form,
in which the most important 'sovereign' element is placed at the
centre, are the two main numerological patterns discussed by Dr
Fowler. Critics have tended to regard numerology as an isolated
phenomenon, rare after the Middle Ages but Dr Fowler demonstrates
its persistence in the works of Spenser, Sidney, Chapman,
Shakespeare, Donne, Jonson, Dryden and others.
This book was compiled by Alastair Fowler from notes left by C. S.
Lewis at his death. It is Lewis's longest piece of literary
criticism, as distinct from literary history. It approaches The
Faerie Queene as a majestic pageant of the universe and nature,
celebrating God as 'the glad creator', and argues that conventional
views of epic and allegory must be modified if the poem is to be
fully enjoyed and understood.
Alastair Fowler's fascinating study describes forgotten Renaissance
beliefs about stellification (an afterlife in the stars through
transformation into stellar or angelic substance after death), and
explores the extraordinary prominence of astronomical imagery in
Renaissance literature. The new astronomy of Copernicus and Brahe,
far from working against religious beliefs, encouraged hopes of
access to the uncorrupted spheres. Seventeenth-century Christians
of various persuasions believed in a stellar afterlife. Fowler's
many-faceted book traces these ideas in literature, masque,
architecture, and the pursuit of fame. Time's Purpled Masquers
first characterizes the Renaissance as a period of reform and of
theological focus on nature, rather than of desacralization. It
goes on to show how astronomical discoveries led to new hopes of
access to the uncorrupted translunary spheres. Alastair Fowler then
examines evidence for a widespread belief in stellification.
Further chapters relate this belief to the long-standing
association of posthumous fame with the stars, and survey traces of
the hope of stellification in various cultural forms.
The seventeenth century was a period of remarkable achievement in
the field of English poetry: it was the age of Shakespeare, Donne,
Marvell, Jonson, Drayton, Herbert, Dryden, and Rochester among
others. Alastair Fowler's celebrated anthology maps the terrain
afresh, including innumerable and generous selections from all of
the century's masterpieces as well as fascinating work by less
familiar names. It strikes a balance between Metaphysical wit and
intellect and Jonsonian simplicity, while also accommodating
hitherto neglected popular verse. The result is a truer, more
Catholic representation of seventeenth-century verse than any
previous anthology.
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