Paradise Lost and The Blazing World Knowledge of...

Paradise Lost and The Blazing World: Knowledge of Knowledge that is Best Left Unknown John Milton set out to write Paradise Lost in order to â€Å"justify the ways of God to men† (1.26). To achieve this grand goal, Milton relies on his reader’s capability to discover a degree of personal revelation within the text. Many scholars have noted Milton’s reliance on personal discovery throughout Paradise Lost; Stanley Eugene Fish points out that discovery operates in Paradise Lost in a way that â€Å"is analogous to that of the Mosaic Law† because it invokes a level of interaction with the reader that is able to â€Å"bring us to the righteousness of Christ† (526-7). This idea of discovery differs from genre because the reader’s personal experiences†¦show more content†¦We see this notion of personal discovery on the part of the reader at work in Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World as well as John Milton’s Paradise Lost. In â€Å"Paradise Lost,† Milton shows his reader their shortcomings, but the n demonstrates for them the proper way to contend with these shortcomings through the poem’s dialogue and action, and ultimately, it is up to the reader to learn from what he or she has experienced. The meaning of the poem, according to Stanley Eugene Fish, is â€Å"located in the reader’s experience of it,† and the form of the poem, â€Å"is the form of that experience† (527). This grandiose scheme behind the personal discovery in Paradise Lost is for no other reason than to serve as a means for John Milton to justify the ways of God to mankind (Milton 1.26). All who read Paradise Lost undoubtedly encounter these experiences; however, the degree to which each reader progresses towards a greater understanding of God’s ways is based on the degree of personal relevance that each individual reader finds with the text. In this way, the reader’s progress in not a linear progression, but rather a cyclic and continuous rediscovery through inter action with the text (Fish 526-36). Stanley Eugene FishShow MoreRelatedA Picatrix Miscellany52019 Words   |  209 Pagesaccording to the Ihwà ¢n al-Safà ¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, and of talismans according to Jabir ibn Hajjà ¢n. The talisman is compared to the elixir of the alchemists (pp.7-9). Magic is to be divided into two parts, theoretical and practical, the first being confined to the knowledge of the heavens (with the parenthesis that speech is a kind of magic) and the second consisting in making use of the natural kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral (pp.9-10). This principle of discrimination holds good, by and large, for the arrangementRead MoreMario and the Magician18314 Words   |  74 Pageshad been preordained and lay in the nature of things; that the children had to be present at it was an added impropriety, due to the false colours in which the weird creature presented himself. Luckily for them, they did not know where the comedy left off and the tragedy began; and we let them remain in their happy belief that the whole thing had been a play up till the end. Torre di Venere lies some fifteen kilometres from Portoclemente, one of the most popular summer resorts on the TyrrhenianRead MoreMonsanto: Better Living Through Genetic Engineering96204 Words   |  385 Pagesrigorous system to work out what strategies should be followed. All the cases are about real companies, and one of the entertaining bits of the analysis process is to compare what you have said they should do with what they really have done. So, it is best not to check the Internet to see current strategies until you have completed your analysis. What follows is one analytical system, a fairly tight one that you may want to adapt according to how much time you have and the style of the case. in the