John Milton: An Annotated Bibliography, 1989–1999

Style and Versification

393 STYLE AND VERSIFICATION Eve uses both rhetoric and logic, and is consequently more formidable. Analyzes Satan’s use of equivocation and draws on Milton’s Art of Logic and Henry Mason’s 1624 work on Jesuit equivocation, the New Art of Lying. Agari, Masahiko. 2031. “Milton and Renaissance Rhetoric.” HSELL 34 (1989): 11–21. Briefly surveys Renaissance rhetoric, focusing on Milton’s Paradise Lost. Observes Satan’s rhetorical dialectic in his temptation of his fellow angels in book 5. Also notes repetitive figures in Milton’s epic that accentuate theological argument. Agari, Masahiko. 2032. “Milton’s Appositional Acclamation.” In Essays on English Language and Literature in Honour of Michio Kawai. Ed. Nobuyuki Yuasa. Tokyo: Eihosha, 1993, pp. 137–44. Discusses the rhetorical use of acclamation —a brief summarizing statement or exclamation that concludes a larger section of words—by various characters in Milton’s epic. Observes its use by Satan, Raphael, Belial, and Eve, noting that Milton ’s God does not use acclamation. Agari, Masahiko. 2033. “An Observation on Milton’s Language.” HSELL 27 (1982): 42–56. Covers the growth in Milton’s use of epic language in his earlier poetry and his prose, culminating in Paradise Lost. Touches on many works. Believes that Milton’s writing of the History of Britain was a significant factor in developing his epic style. Agari, Masahiko. 2034. “Satan’s Language .” Poetica 41 (1994): 125–36. Examines Satan’s use of logical equivocation in the temptation of Eve. Agari, Masahiko. 2028. Formula, Rhetoric , and the Word: Studies in Milton’s Epic Style. Berne: Peter Lang, 1997. 136 pp. Contains nine reprints of essays published in Japan between 1971 and 1994 (several of which appear in this bibliography), examining various aspects of Milton’s epic style. Discusses Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained in relation to Renaissance rhetoric. Also includes chapters on the formulaic patterns of language in Paradise Lost, “The Moral Aspect of Milton’s Style” in Paradise Lost, “Adam’s Song of Innocence” in book 8 of Paradise Lost, “Logical Equivocation in Paradise Lost,” “Satan’s Language,” and “The Double Structure of Paradise Regained.” Contends that in Paradise Regained, “Christ’s preparation and the reader’s imitation of Christ as the exemplar” form the brief epic’s “double structure,” which is “unified in the search on both sides for the true nature of the divine word” (106). Agari, Masahiko. 2029. Kotoba no Jitsuzai : Shitsurakuen no Shiso to Buntai (The Presence of the Word: Idea and Style in “Paradise Lost”). Tokyo: Eihosha, 1992. 221 pp. In Japanese. Agari, Masahiko. 2030. “Logical Equivocation .” In Language and Style in English Literature: Essays in Honour of Michio Masui. Ed. Michio Kawai. Hiroshima: English Research Association of Hiroshima; Tokyo: Eihosha, 1991, pp. 542–56. Focuses on logical equivocation in Paradise Lost. Points out that in Comus, Comus’s temptation of the Lady consists only of rhetoric; Satan’s temptation of 394 JOHN MILTON: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, 1989–1999 Noting that “Milton keeps the convention of the singular thou and the plural you” (131), analyzes the pronouns used throughout the temptation. Satan uses thou in the beginning to single out and flatter Eve and then, noticing her use of we, switches to you to make her feel “as if she were together with Adam” (134). Satan also uses the plural you to establish indirectly the opposition of God and man. Concludes, “Satan, a cunning rhetorician and a specialist logician, tries to destroy the divine and natural order of the universe . He is engaged in re-stucturalising the universe, and thus as a linguist, he is the de-structuralist” (136). Agari, Masahiko. 2035. “A Study of Word Order in Paradise Lost.” SDAL 2 (1963): 21–38. Bedford, R. D. 2036. “Milton, Dryden and Marvell: An Exchange of Views on Rhyming.” AUMLA 89 (1998): 1–14. Explores the relationship between Milton and Dryden. Speculates “that Dryden found Paradise Lost amusing” (3) and that he reflects this attitude when he recasts the epic into The State of Innocence, “a relatively crude affair, displaying . . . an insensitivity to Milton’s language and verse” (4). The notion that Dryden was paying homage when he visited Milton “is a little difficult to take” (6). When Milton gave permission to “tagg” (6) his verses, he was satirically playing on the Restoration fashion in dress for tags and other frivolous ornaments attached to clothing. Observes that Milton’s widow reported that he had said that Dryden was “no poet, but a good rimist...