A Variorum Commentary on the Poems of John Milton: Volume 3 [Samson Agonistes]

The Argument

The Argument The Argument: commentators have comparatively little to say about this opening section, mostly discussing how accurately it represents SA’s narrative. E.g., Gilbert identifies various discrepancies between the Argument and the poem (see the notes for Argument 10, 15–16, 20, 24–25, 27–28); he concludes that the Argument was written before Milton completed SA and represents an early outline (“Is Samson Agonistes” 98–100). But Hanford insists, “The crucial steps in the action are clearly indicated” (Poems). Grierson also asserts that the Argument is “doubtless the last thing written” because it emphasizes the poem’s “main intention,” which Grierson identifies as divine inspiration “by latent impulsion to do certain things which in normal morality are forbidden” (Milton 139). 2–3. Gaza: see SA 41n. a common work-house: see SA 6n. Parker (“Variorum”) notes that after 1652 the word workhouse acquired the meaning, inappropriate here, of “a house established for the provision of work for the unemployed poor of a parish” (OED 2). Festival: see SA 1598. 4. comes forth: Parker notes, “actually, he is led” (“Variorum”). place: see SA 17, 333. 6. at length: i.e., after his opening soliloquy; cf. “to sit awhile” (5). See Argument 20n. 79 80 Variorum Commentary on the Poems of John Milton 7. equals: Latin aequales, “one who has lived as long; a contemporary” (OED B.1c); Page suggests that it also refers to the person’s rank. The word is not used in the poem itself. tribe: see SA 217. 9. Manoa: see SA 328n. 10. procure: Parker notes that this word, repeated in Argument 24, is not used in the poem itself (“Variorum”). lastly: Wyatt and Collins write that the order of the Argument is the reverse of that of the poem: Manoa tells about the feast in 434–47, about the plans for ransom in 481–86, and, upon Samson’s deprecation of that proposal, he tries to comfort his son in 502–20. Gilbert adds, “in reality neither Manoa nor the Chorus make much effort at comfort” (“Is Samson Agonistes” 98). 11. proclaim’d: so SA 435, 1598. Philistins: so also Argument 27. Parker (“Variorum”) observes that Milton’s spelling is Philistims in the Trinity Manuscript plans for tragedies (Patterson, Works 18:236 is in error), Ref (Patterson, Works 3:45), RCG (Patterson, Works 3:276), Areop (Patterson, Works 4:327–28), Ps 83 27 (composed April 1648), and Eikon (Patterson, Works 5:179). However, the word is spelled Philistine twice and Philistines eight times in the text of SA. All three spellings occur in Phillips’s New World: Philistines five times (s.v. David, Goliah, Sampson, Saul, Shamgar), Philistins once (s.v. Abimelech), and Philistim once (s.v. Haraphah). See also SA 577. 11–12. day of Thanksgiving: Parker writes, “such public celebrations were proclaimed from time to time in England from 1641 on” (“Variorum”). See SA 12n s.v. Feast. deliverance: so SA 437. Nash notes the punning irony that “the great deliverer [40] has been delivered to his enemies and Philistia now celebrates her ‘deliverance’” (31). thir: so also Argument 18; this spelling first occurs in Preface 13 and predominates in the text. See SA 190n. 14. prosecute: see SA 603. Samson Agonistes: Argument 81 Philistian: Parker writes, “so spelled elsewhere in Milton (e.g., Animad [Patterson , Works 3:122] and Tetr [Patterson, Works 4:160]) except in PL 9.1061, where it is ‘Philistean,’ accented on the third (instead of the second) syllable” (“Variorum”). 15–16. redemption: see SA 1482. visited by other persons: commentators discuss why Milton here does not name Samson’s specific visitors. Gilbert objects that this “colorless phrase” describes the 555 lines, nearly one-third of the tragedy, given to Dalila and Harapha’s visits: “If the Argument were composed later than the tragedy, is it possible that characters so important...would not have been named?.... [T]he development of these visits appears to have been an afterthought” (“Is Samson Agonistes” 98, 101). Sellin, however, thinks that the omission here of Dalila and Harapha indicates that these scenes are “‘episodes,’ ...admitted to the tragic poem for the sake of embellishment, ornamentation, or sheer bulk”; he proposes that the visits of these characters are not directly related to the final catastrophe and “need not be connected with the ‘action’ according to criteria of unity thought to govern the parts” (“Milton on Tragedy” 175; “Milton’s...