Milton and his Epic Precursors
Tobias Gregory
In Paradise Lost John Milton reclaims neoclassical vernacular epic as a live option for modern poetry. criticism, neither interpretive model is new; both can be traced through the poem's reception history. past half-century agonistic has received greater emphasis. The most explicit gestures of literary positioning involve naming precursor poets or poems. first two books are especially thick with allusions to classical epic, and critical accounts differ whether these present Satan debased version hero, they constitute critique heroism itself. successful Milton's early precursors, in popular esteem, were chivalric epics Italian Renaissance, which grafted elements onto story lines derived from medieval romance.