Monday 16 July 2012

Blake's Milton


It's only just occurred to me that Blake's interest in Milton (I mean, in particular, with respect to Milton) is in more than the influence of Paradise Lost on his own poetry, important though that influence clearly was.  It has to do with the geezer's name. Names are important to Blake, and they signify in resonant and complex ways.  In this case, the poem contrasts rural, idealised topoi with the 'mill town' through which the human imagination is ground-up.

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