원문정보
The Role of Melpomene in Samson Agonistes
초록
영어
In the title page of Milton’s 1645 volume there are very significant frontispiece and motto. Prefatory engravings and title pages in this period serve as a kind of summary of the themes of the book, alerting the reader to the meaning to grasp. Milton seemed to imply in the motto that he would be a great national “vates,” and at the center of the frontispiece there is a portrait of Milton as a young man. This portrait is surrounded in the corners by representations of four of the Nine Muses: Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, Clio, the muse of history and fame, Erato, the muse of love poetry, and Urania, the muse of astronomy and sacred poetry. It is inferred from this title page that Milton decided to publish a poetic autobiography which would not only display his earlier works but also would declare firmly where he saw his poetic vocation to lie in the future. But at the last scene of his poetic career Milton realized that all the muses except Melpomene had played their roles in his poems. Erato inspired the poet in the earlier lyrics, and Clio and Urania appeared together in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. So in order to keep his promise made in the 1645 Poems, he devoted all the remnant of his creative energy to writing a great tragedy. At first the poet-protagonist, Samson, gave vent to his emotions of suffering, blindness, grief, and death(Erato), but he came to accept the providence of God(Urania) who would be sure to lead his nation to a liberated country(Clio). So he was willing to meet a heroic death (Melpomene) in the idolatrous feast of Dagon.
목차
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Works Cited
Abstract