Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (8 page)

The main positions in feminist Milton studies are essentially the same as those adopted in Shakespeare studies, and no doubt in other literary disciplines. Some interpreters found that Milton’s poetry, if read sympathetically, yields meanings surprisingly favorable to women (McColley 1983; Woods). Others of this persuasion explored the possibility that Milton was not primarily threatened by women but in fact identified with them in profound ways (Kerrigan 1983, 184–86, 188–89,
and 1991; S. Davies; Turner 65–71, 142–48; Lieb 83–113). Some, by contrast, agreed with Gilbert and Gubar that Milton is irredeemably an obstruction and will have to be cleared away (Froula). There were also those evenhanded souls contending that Milton is pretty much all right so far as he goes, but does not go far enough. James Turner in
One Flesh
found Milton’s Eden erotically liberating; yet the poem has “two quite different models of the politics of love: one is drawn from the experience of being in love with an equal, … the other from the hierarchical arrangement of the universe, and the craving for male supremacy” (285). Mary Nyquist conceded that Milton seemed progressive in championing companionate marriage based on conversational partnership but warned that a woman content with such by-products of individualism would be settling for too little. The “blear illusion” (
Masque
155) of these bourgeois goods prevents women from appreciating the higher truths to their left (99–100, 115–24).

This is still a young tradition. Up to now it has no doubt been too caught up in the barren chore of ideological grading. But the arguments have begun.

Most of the many editions, books, and articles cited in the introduction and notes can be found, alphabetized by author, in the Works Cited bibliography at the end of this volume. Where an author’s surname is given without a date, it means that only one of this author’s works has been cited in the edition. Where a name is coupled with a date, it means that at least two works by this author have been cited in the edition. Multiple entries in Works Cited are arranged chronologically.

We use these abbreviations for works by John Milton:

Citations to Milton’s prose refer either to the Modern Library Milton (
MLM
) or, for passages not included in the Modern Library Milton, to the volume and page number of the Yale edition.

We use the following abbreviations for works by Shakespeare:

Unless otherwise indicated, we quote the Bible from the
AV
(King James Version), and use standard abbreviations when referring to its books; we sometimes cite
Geneva
(
The Geneva Bible
, 1588). Poetry in English, except where otherwise indicated, we cite from the Oxford authors series. Classical works are cited from the Loeb Classical Library unless otherwise noted, with standard abbreviations, such as, prominently,
Il
. and Od. for Homer’s
Iliad
and
Odyssey, Ec
. and Aen. for Vergil’s
Eclogues
and Aeneid, and
Her
. and Met. for Ovid’s
Heroides
and
Metamorphoses
.

We also use these abbreviations: