Article: "True religion" and tragedy: Milton's insights in 'Samson Agonistes.'

In the early 20th century, an "old" historicism - derived from the Cambridge school of anthropology - sought to uncover layers of "pre-rational" meaning in ancient Greek drama, especially in the plays' reflection of the myths and rituals of primitive folk religion (Fergusson 33). Criticism of Renaissance biblical drama had been reluctant to follow suit until the current generation of postmodernists and "new" historicists began to emphasize the "pre-rational" impulses and patriarchal tyrannies possibly underlying the esthetic constructions of any religious discourse, orthodox as well as pagan. In the old historicism, the prevailing critical view had been that the dubious ...

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