Destabilizing Milton: "Paradise lost" and the poetics of incertitude

Introduction : "normal" interpretation and the protocols of Milton criticism : or, how the interpretation of Milton really works

1. "Warring chains of signifiers" : metaphoric ambivalence and the politics of Paradise lost

2. Paradise lost, the Miltonic "or," and the poetics of incertitude

3. "England a free nation" : Milton's prose and the ancient constitution

4. "New laws, new counsels" : the problem of politics in Paradise lost

5. Incertitude, authority, and Milton's god

6. "The more to draw his love" : Paradise lost and the critique of misogyny

7. Paradise regained, Samson agonistes, and the conclusion of Milton's career