[Milton-L] historicism, formalism, etc. (Skulsky)

[Carrol Cox]

Some poster mentioned that interpretive focus should begin with brief
passages, not whole works, but no one took up that issue. But to do so
would allow bringing theoretical issues to bear on the concrete more
easily than by taking huge works such as Lear.

Consider the most well-known opening in English literature: "It is a
truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife".

The main clause here conncerns the reader, not single men or money. Or
at least that is what I take to be the significance of "universally
acknowledged," which must include acknowledgement by the reader. Is the
reader supposed to accept this assessment of his/her beliefs?

How do the theoretical principles being discussed bear on this
interpretive gambit?

Carrol