"Matter of Glorious Trial": Spiritual and Material Substance in "Paradise Lost"

This groundbreaking book, the first to examine Milton’s thinking about matter and substance throughout his entire poetic career, seeks to alter the prevailing critical view that Milton was a monist-materialist—one who believes that all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions.

Based on her close study of the philosophical movements of Milton’s mind, Sugimura discovers the “fluid intermediaries” in his poetry that are...