Samson Agonistes

I was a little surprised to see that there was no thread on Samson so I thought I would add one. Anyway, if you have not read Samson Agonistes I would highly recommend it, it is quite a short text and for anybody relatively new to Milton it is a great place to start. It tells of the story of Samson from the book of Judges after he has been betrayed by Delilah and begins with him imprisoned in Gaza. It is written in the form of Greek tragedy. It also possesses deep biographical possibilities with Samson being blinded as was Milton's fate at the time it was written. Interestingly although it is a play Milton never intended it to be performed, only read.

All the action is focused in this one place where Samson comes into contact with a variety of people. Most dramatic is the scenes with his father and with Delilah. The conclusion is dramatic and powerful and the whole thing is very accessible. I would highly recommend reading chapter 13 & 14 of the book of Judges prior to reading it though as background knowledge of the story is very useful. Anyway here more information on it and the text in full:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/rea...ma/index.shtml

If you do happen to read it because of this thread then let me know what you think of it. Also knowing that someone had read this great work just because they had stumbled onto this thread would be pretty cool. :thumbs_up

If you have already read it what do you think of it, pass on your thoughts?

Milton is a classical poet, and now few find him appealing. We admire but never read them.

However I read Paradise lost with much difficulty and patience. I had a tough time to persevere reading him.

I have plenty of things to read and of course I have a little choice for it.

I read Samson Agonistes right after reading PL and PR; it's an odd experience to go from the incredibly rich, ornate denseness of PL to the plain PR and the sober Samson. I guess Milton felt he poured everything into PL and felt that its intricacies and elaborateness didn't need to be repeated and decided to see what he could achieve in a more 'everyday' format. Samson is especially interesting in its existence as a 'closet drama', simply to be read and not performed. Milton's primary literary device seemed to be foreshadowing which he uses a lot and, as with PL's Satan, he creates some really interesting equivocal characters and scenes. It's certainly one that needs to be read a few times to gain an understanding.

I especially recommend Handel's Samson oratorio which was inspired by Milton's Samson. It's one of his greatest works, perhaps even better than the popular Messiah and certainly has one of his best librettos. This version is definitive. Handel also wrote an oratorio based on Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso and requested the librettist add an "Il Moderato"; the work is another one of Handel's greatest and I highly recommend it as well.

Yes there is certainly a massive difference between PL and SA (I've not read PR yet). It feels like it is a work which should have come well before PL not after. It is completely stripped of all intricacies as you say, it is a very plain and sober work, but still very compelling.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Yes there is certainly a massive difference between PL and SA (I've not read PR yet). It feels like it is a work which should have come well before PL not after. It is completely stripped of all intricacies as you say, it is a very plain and sober work, but still very compelling.

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I couldn't have put it any better Neely. But Samson Agonistes is a closet drama, like a play which is never meant to be acted out. Paradise Lost is a poem and is therefore free to soar above the "middle flight." It's an epic poem and therefore has those awesomely epic conventions like terrific battles, journeys through hell or Heaven, and has angels and demons as characters.

Samson Agonistes is confined to the Earth and isn't as poetic in its language or dialogue.

However, one other thing is that Milton spent 10 years writing Paradise Lost. It was his greatest work and something he had been planning from a young age, and so his inspiration and vision are greater than in anything else he wrote previously to Paradise Lost or after.

Samson Agonistes was published along with Paradise Regained and isn't about the heroism of war, but a more "truer" heroism--the heroism of Christ, which Milton wants to put above the heroism he shows in Paradise Lost.

That's why Paradise Regained is stripped of the epic conventions found in Paradise Lost, since Milton finds epic conventions like war and clashing armies not as true or noble as Christ's spiritual nobility (something which every regular human can have).

Yes, it is unfair to even begin comparing anything else Milton wrote to Paradise Lost. Milton set out to write a great epic for England to rival those of Homer and Virgil and spent the greater part of his life to reach that goal in Paradise Lost. Everything else, including Paradise Regained (which I have since read) and Samson should be judged in isolation.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Yes, it is unfair to even begin comparing anything else Milton wrote to Paradise Lost. Milton set out to write a great epic for England to rival those of Homer and Virgil and spent the greater part of his life to reach that goal in Paradise Lost. Everything else, including Paradise Regained (which I have since read) and Samson should be judged in isolation.

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Yes, I agree But readers will always compare Paradise Regained to Paradise Lost because it is a sequel, if only in spirit. But Samson Agonistes is a damn cool work and one of Milton's best, and I think it's only surpassed by Paradise Lost. The opening line is just beautiful.

It is generally considered that Samson Agonistes is the last work of Milton. The source of the poetic drama is Judges XIII-XVI, but Miltonic in characterization and theme. " It is the only successful Greek tragedy in English, but its inner substance is not really Greek; theme of a fallen hero's achievement of a new and subtler kind of heroism is not Sophoclean but Christian in a very Miltonic way" ( David Daiches).
In dramatising this Biblical story, Milton followed the model of classical tragedies of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus. In his prose preface to this work, he reiterates the point that tragedy is of the highest seriousness, " the gravest, moralest, and most profitable of all other poems." Aristotle's theory of tragedy ( that it should follow the dramatic unity of action, time and place, and that it should have the power to raise pity, fear, and terror in order to purge the mind of evil passions) is accurately followed in this play.

Having just read all three epics, Samson Agonistes, written as a play is the easiest read. Knowing that aged Milton is himself blind, lends pathos to his depiction of Samson, blind, in chains and dreadfully forlorn.

I particularly relished Dalila's persuasive defence of her past treachery as she confronts the implacable self assurance and incorruptibility of Samson, reminiscent of God almighty in Paradise Lost.

Memorable also are the opening words of old Manoa to long imprisoned Samson:

I cannot praise thy Marriage choices, Son,
Rather approv'd them not...

Incidentally, I wish you well Abdiel :angel: