The Mystical Design of "Paradise Lost"

Abstract

In his introduction, Professor Crump explains that his purpose is "to demonstrate the per- vasiveness of a mystical, that is, anagogical level of meaning in Paradise Lost, embodied structurally and conceptually in the form of the circle, vi'hich represents both the cyclical rhythms of man's world and the eternal, immutable perfection of the Creator" (p.23).His method is to analyze three aspects of the poem; namely, its rhetorical patterns, its physical structure, and its temporal design.Crump begins by considering in the first chapter certain rhetorical devices which help impart a cyclical effect to both the thematic and stylistic elements of the poem.These are the Latinate syntax, which frequently takes on antimetabolic patterns; proleptic imagery; i circularly arranged argument within certain verse paragraphs; oxymoron; and the "habit of encircling one word with two others that syntactically depend upon it" (p.65).Thus he shows, with abundant illustration, how "Milton creates a style that physically as well as intuitively reflects the re-creative powers, the renewal that symbolizes the divine abundance of creation" (p.67).

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