Milton Among the Philosophers: Poetry and Materialism in Seventeenth-Century England

While Johnson charged that Milton "unhappily perplexed his poetry with his philosophy," Stephen M. Fallon argues that the relationship between Milton's philosophy and the poetry of Paradise Lost is a happy one. The author examines Milton's thought in light of the competing philosophical systems that filled the vacuum left by the repudiation of Aristotle in the seventeenth century. In what has become the classic account of Milton's animist materialism, Fallon revises our understanding of Milton's philosophical sophistication. The book offers a new interpretation of the War in Heaven in Paradise Lost as a clash of metaphysical systems, with free will hanging in the balance.

About the Author :
Stephen M. Fallon is Cavanaugh Professor in the Humanities at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Milton's Peculiar Grace: Self-Representation and Authority, also available from Cornell.

Review :
"This is one of the most excellent and satisfying books ever written on Milton and intellectual history, thoroughly researched, moderate but at times dashing in its argument, and very helpful, I predict, to serious readers of Milton whatever their bent or level of philosophical or literary competence... Fallon himself appears to have the right stuff to effect a coherent, all-but-seamless account of the common matter of poetry and philosophy... No summary can do justice to Fallon's powerful account of this important topic. His discussion of seventeenth-century poetry and materialism is stimulating, discriminating, and lucid. It will surely prove a landmark among philosophical discussions of Milton for years to come."-Dennis Danielson, Modern Philology "A provocative study that offers an innovative, often unique, outlook on Milton. By situating Milton in a philosophical milieu very different from that in which he is typically immersed, Fallon brings new light to our understanding of Milton the thinker and Milton the poet. As a result, even concepts such as free will and Christian liberty, extensively explored in Milton studies, are revitalized and interpreted anew by Fallon."-Albert C. Labriola, Journal of English and Germanic Philology "A substantial contribution to Milton studies, Stephen M. Fallon's lucid and economical Milton among the Philosophers resumes the sixty-five-year-old debate about the poet's materialism by shifting it away from the history of ideas to intellectual history."-John Bernard, Studies in English Literature "By placing Milton among the competing metaphysical models of his day, Fallon not only leads us to a fuller appreciation of seventeenth-century metaphysics, but also recovers the philosophical assumptions undergirding Milton's Paradise Lost."-Michael Hall, Philosophy and Literature