[Milton-L] Symposium on Milton's Samson

[Carol Barton]

1. I think you're remembering Empson, Carl. 

2. Yes. Up to "true man." I think his intention was to present the credentials of the man who dared to "justify the ways of God to Man" (which was prerequisite to such writing, in his era).

3. Above all else, Milton's "intention" was to COMMUNICATE: to make the rest of us privy to the vision in his head and heart--

the same intention Stanley Fish had and has . . .

the same intention that motivates me to post this message to the list.

I've argued elsewhere that Milton sometimes has a hidden agenda, an "intention" beyond his seeming intention: that he's engaging in rhetoric as a performance, toward a specific end, and adopting certain stances more for their emotional currency than because he necessarily believes what he utters--especially in the so-called antiprelaticals, and "antimonarchicals."

The subject is a very complicated one, but I do think that Milton "intends" every word that he writes.

If he didn't, why would he edit, and re-edit, and publish? (If we didn't, why would we?)

Best to all,

Carol Barton
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