George Edmundson

Milton and Vondel: a Curiosity of Literature George Edmundson

The Paradise Lost of Milton is now, by universal consent, numbered among those few productions of rare poetical genius whose supreme merit assures them an immortality of renown. Yet its record has not been one of unbroken triumph. The poem, when published, did not take public opinion by storm. I ts popularity was at first of slow growth, and when at length it had won its way to that position of acknowledged pre-eminence, which it has since retained, its very originality and inspiration began to be vehemently questioned. In the eighetenth century a perfect storm of controversy arose as to the supposed sources from whence its author derived not merely the rudimentary ideas, but even the very details both in plot and imagery of that adventurous song, which, in the poets own words, was to pursue things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. Voltaire was the first who threw out the suggestion that the conceptions of Milton might not be entirely original.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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