Paradise Lost and the Cosmological Revolution

Download or read book Paradise Lost and the Cosmological Revolution written by Dennis Danielson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-06 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings John Milton's Paradise Lost into dialogue with the challenges of cosmology and the world of Galileo, whom Milton met and admired: a universe encompassing space travel, an earth that participates vibrantly in the cosmic dance, and stars that are "world[s] / Of destined habitation." Milton's bold depiction of our universe as merely a small part of a larger multiverse allows the removal of hell from the center of the earth to a location in the primordial abyss. In this wide-ranging work, Dennis Danielson lucidly unfolds early modern cosmological debates, engaging not only Galileo but also Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, and the English Copernicans, thus placing Milton at a rich crossroads of epic poetry and the history of science.