Overview

This book examines the typological significance of Milton’s use of mockery in his major poetic works. In Milton’s poetry, mockery has a constructive purpose that transcends the primarily destructive and condemnatory function of comic ridicule. Engaging human affections, mockery plays a mediating role and connects reason and appetite. Oriented toward Christ’s endurance of mockery on the cross and his mocking defeat of the devil in the Resurrection, the exchanges of mockery between Milton’s protagonists and antagonists demonstrate how mockery strengthens the human soul and unifies reason and the mortal body, enabling the participation in God’s laughter. Revisiting Milton’s poetry with special attention to mockery and typology shows the thematic potential of laughter in non-comedic works of literature. From the reader’s perspective, mockery in Milton’s poetry also bears a pedagogical function, showing us how to laugh with God in a postlapsarian world of imperfection.

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9781041168720

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Zeyi Zhang is Assistant Professor of English at Peking University in China. Her research focuses on the interactions between literature, knowledge, and theology in early modern England.

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