Milton and Gender

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511483752

Milton's contempt for women has been accepted since Samuel Johnson's famous Life of the poet. Subsequent critics have long debated whether Milton's writings were anti- or pro-feminine, a problem further complicated by his advocacy of 'divorce on demand' for men. Milton and Gender re-evaluates these claims of Milton as anti-feminist, pointing out that he was not seen that way by contemporaries, but espoused startlingly fresh ideas of marriage and the relations between the sexes. The first two sections of specially commissioned essays in this volume investigate the representations of gender and sexuality in Milton's prose and verse. In the final section, the responses of female readers ranging from George Eliot and Virginia Woolf to lesser-known artists and revolutionaries are brought to bear on Milton's afterlife and reputation. Together, these essays provide a critical perspective on the contested issues of femininity and masculinity, marriage and divorce in Milton's work.

"Maintaining the highest standards of scholarship and critical acumen, the contributors engage Miltons writings by reference to the cultural milieu of 17th-century EnglandThis timely volume auspiciously rides the crest of interest in the very topics that guarantee Miltons ongoing appeal to every generation."
- Choice

"The controversy over Milton's position on gender assumes center court in Catherine Gimelli Martin's very useful collection of essays..."
- SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900

"Milton and Gender is a must-read not only for the usual suspects but also for cultural warriors on both the left and right." -Katharine Gillespie, Miami University

"The impressive range her makes this an important and provocative collection...The readings are rigorous and inventive, and the contradictions and paradoxes that they finally acknowledge signal the ongoing life of the 350-year-old debate about Milton and Gender." Renaissance Quarterly Paula Loscocco, Sarah Lawrence College

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Contents
pp v-vi
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List of illustrations
pp vii-vii
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Notes on contributors
pp viii-xi
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Acknowledgments
pp xii-xii
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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Abbreviations
pp xiii-xiv
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Introduction: Milton's gendered subjects
pp 1-16
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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PART I - MASCULINITY, DIVORCE, AND MISOGYNY IN MILTON'S PROSE
pp 17-18
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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1 - The gender of civic virtue
pp 19-33
- By Gina Hausknecht, Associate Professor of English, Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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2 - The aesthetics of divorce: “masculinism,” idolatry, and poetic authority in Tetrachordon and Paradise Lost
pp 34-52
- By James Grantham Turner, Teacher, University of California, Berkeley
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3 - Dalila, misogyny, and Milton's Christian liberty of divorce
pp 53-74
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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PART II - THE GENDERED SUBJECTS OF MILTON'S MAJOR POEMS
pp 75-76
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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4 - The profession of virginity in A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle
pp 77-94
- By William Shullenberger, Joseph Campbell, Chair in the Humanities Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
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5 - The genders of God and the redemption of the flesh in Paradise Lost
pp 95-114
- By Marshall Grossman, Professor of English, University of Maryland
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6 - Transported touch: the fruit of marriage in Paradise Lost
pp 115-132
- By John Rogers, Teaches English, Yale University
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7 - The experience of defeat: Milton and some female contemporaries
pp 133-152
- By Elizabeth M. Sauer, Professor of English, Brock University, Canada
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8 - Samson and surrogacy
pp 153-166
- By Amy Boesky, Associate Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
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9 - “I was his nursling once”: nation, lactation, and the Hebraic in Samson Agonistes
pp 167-183
- By Rachel Trubowitz, Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire, Durham
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10 - “The Jewish Question” and “The Woman Question” in Samson Agonistes: gender, religion, and nation
pp 184-204
- By Achsah Guibbory, Professor of English, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
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PART III - GENDERED SUBJECTIVITY IN MILTON'S LITERARY HISTORY
pp 205-206
- By Catherine Gimelli Martin, Professor of English Literature, University of Memphis
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11 - George Eliot as a “Miltonist”: marriage and Milton in Middlemarch
pp 207-222
- By Dayton Haskin, Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts
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12 - Saying it with flowers: Jane Giraud's ecofeminist Paradise Lost (1846)
pp 223-253
- By Wendy Furman-Adams, Professor of English, Whittier College, California, Virginia James Tufte, Professor Emerita of English, University of Southern California
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13 - Woolf's allusion to Comus in The Voyage Out
pp 254-270
- By Lisa Low, Milton and Woolf scholar
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Index
pp 271-277
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Milton and Gender

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

List of illustrations
pp vii-vii

Notes on contributors
pp viii-xi

Acknowledgments
pp xii-xii

Abbreviations
pp xiii-xiv

Introduction: Milton's gendered subjects
pp 1-16

PART I - MASCULINITY, DIVORCE, AND MISOGYNY IN MILTON'S PROSE
pp 17-18

1 - The gender of civic virtue
pp 19-33

2 - The aesthetics of divorce: “masculinism,” idolatry, and poetic authority in Tetrachordon and Paradise Lost
pp 34-52

3 - Dalila, misogyny, and Milton's Christian liberty of divorce
pp 53-74

PART II - THE GENDERED SUBJECTS OF MILTON'S MAJOR POEMS
pp 75-76

4 - The profession of virginity in A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle
pp 77-94

5 - The genders of God and the redemption of the flesh in Paradise Lost
pp 95-114

6 - Transported touch: the fruit of marriage in Paradise Lost
pp 115-132

7 - The experience of defeat: Milton and some female contemporaries
pp 133-152

8 - Samson and surrogacy
pp 153-166

9 - “I was his nursling once”: nation, lactation, and the Hebraic in Samson Agonistes
pp 167-183

10 - “The Jewish Question” and “The Woman Question” in Samson Agonistes: gender, religion, and nation
pp 184-204

PART III - GENDERED SUBJECTIVITY IN MILTON'S LITERARY HISTORY
pp 205-206

11 - George Eliot as a “Miltonist”: marriage and Milton in Middlemarch
pp 207-222

12 - Saying it with flowers: Jane Giraud's ecofeminist Paradise Lost (1846)
pp 223-253

13 - Woolf's allusion to Comus in The Voyage Out
pp 254-270

Index
pp 271-277

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