"Sion's Songs": Milton, the Psalms, and Counter-Tradition
Abstract
In her concept of counter-tradition, Sheila Delany articulates a tradition of opposition that affirms the place of critical dissent within a broader cultural heritage spanning historical periods and encompassing diverse cultures, nations, and religions. While Delany includes Milton's Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce as a representative text, Milton's Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes present further models of counter-tradition. In both poems, the Psalms provide a tradition of literary excellence and critical resistance for heroic figures confronting oppression. Structural, dialectical, and typological features of the Psalms illustrate counter-tradition as a dynamic association of memory, history, experience, and education in the development of individual readers. Thus, counter-tradition is a concept of enduring critical and pedagogical value.
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Published
2006-01-01
How to Cite
Gay, D. (2006). "Sion’s Songs": Milton, the Psalms, and Counter-Tradition. Florilegium, 23(1), 251–269. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/flor/article/view/12538
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Section
Post-Medieval Studies
