Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes,a tragedy by Milton , published 1671 , in the same volume as Paradise Regained . Its composition was traditionally assigned to 1666 – 70 , but W. R. Parker in his biography ( 1968 ) argues that it was written much earlier, possibly as early as 1647 . A closet drama never intended for the stage, it is modelled on Greek tragedy, and has been frequently compared to Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus or Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles : other critics have claimed that its spirit is more Hebraic (or indeed Christian) than Hellenic. Predominantly in blank verse, it also contains passages of great metrical freedom and originality, and some rhyme. Samson Agonistes (i.e. Samson the Wrestler, or Champion) deals with the last phase of the life of the Samson of the Book of Judges when he is a prisoner of the Philistines and blind, a phase which many have compared to the assumed circumstances of the...
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