Milton and Homer ─ Written to Aftertimes

Machacek (English, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York) examines how the Homeric epics figure in the composition of Paradise Lost diverging somewhat from most scholars of the later 20th century who focused more on the influence of Virgil to the neglect of Homer. Milton's early critics emphasized the Homer connection, however, and he suggests it was because they were more concerned with composition and literary status than with the issues of meaning that are foregrounded by today's hermeneutic approach. His topics include the war in heaven as admonitory exemplum, conceptions of origins and their consequences, and institutional considerations in Milton's evolving literary ambitions. He mentions that the study began as a dissertation, but does not identify date or institution. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Gregory Machacek is professor of English at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he teaches courses on early modern British and ancient Greek and Roman literature. A former member of the executive committee of the Milton Society of America, he has published essays in Milton Quarterly, the American Journal of Philology, and PMLA.