Dominion Undeserved

An exploration of the divided view of creation that governs Milton's related systems of cosmology, theology, art, and history.

Eric B. Song is Assistant Professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College.

This meticulously researched book offers fresh insight into the roles of creativity, dominion, and abjection in the Miltonic corpus. Lucidly written and persuasively argued, it demonstrates the complexity attendant upon the conflicted impulses that engendered Milton's poetry and prose....One of the book’s strengths is its exploration of the interrelationships between Milton’s poetry and prose. Another is Eric. B. Song’s alertness to literary theory, which facilitates fresh readings of nationhood, gender, and the archive....Commendably diligent and broad, it should prove of interest to Miltonists, early modern specialists, and a wider scholarly community.

"Song concludes [Dominion Undeserved] by suggesting that Milton's work "continues to evolve whenever literary criticshistorianscasual readersmusicianstheologianspoetspaintersnovelistsand filmmakers grapple with Milton's writings and their myriad manifestations" (157). This well-written and provocative book is part of that evolution.—Robert Viking O'Brien

Song argues that Milton perceives and exploits an enduring tension between created works and the underlying unruliness out of which they are formed. Divine creation, nation building, literature—all must strive against the chaos from which they originate and that continually threatens to reemerge.... Firmly placing Milton in his own cultural moment, Song, in his historicist approach, emphasizes Milton's continuing relevance to the current moment [in this] clearly written and accessible book.

Christopher D’Addario:

Dominion Undeserved is an excellent, theoretically sophisticated study of Milton's late poetry, one that Milton scholars and students will find vital for its elucidation of how this poetry engages, in often surprising or unexpected ways, with a range of early modern political concerns. Perhaps more importantly, in its careful attention to Milton’s theories on the perils of authority, Song’s book reveals to us a Milton that continues to speak to the pressing concerns of our current moment.

Suzanne Woods:

..The journey through the many literary, historical, and theoretical threads that Song weaves in his tangentially related but very learned chapeters is well worth the ride. It is a book designed to provoke interesting and fruitful conversation.

Joseph Wittreich, Distinguished Professor of English, The Graduate Center, CUNY, author of Why Milton Matters:

Eric B. Song is among the most engaging and innovative, as well as brilliant, of the new generation of Miltonists. Song moves away from Milton the nationalist to Milton as internationalist poet whose writings have a global reach and importance. He is particularly adept at showing the extent to which Milton's poetry and prose are mutually reflective and illuminating. Dominion Undeserved will have a large audience including not only professional Miltonists but also graduate and undergraduate students whose interest extends to Milton's place in history and his own (and our) theorizings of history.