Originally published in 1962. The rise of "metaphoric" criticism is a reaction against a previous critical preoccupation with psychology and time. Milton spatialized time, thoroughly mastering a metaphoric technique. Professor Cope, after discussing the influences that shaped Milton's aesthetic, systematically examines the structural components of Paradise Lost--light, darkness, and vertical movement--and finds that they imitate, metaphorically, the overall theme of the epic. To test further the implications of his hypothesis, Cope turns to two unsettled points in Miltonic exegesis: Milton's muse and the dialogue in Heaven.

Jackson Cope is the author of Joseph Glanvill, Anglican Apologist (1956), editor of Joseph Glanvill's "Plus Ultra" (1958), and coeditor of Thomas Sprat's History of the Royal Society (1958). He was a professor of English at Johns Hopkins University and Leo S. Bing Professor of English, emeritus, at the University of Southern California.