"Is Milton Better Than Shakespeare?" asks Nigel Smith in the title of
his new book (Harvard University Press, 240 pages, $22.95). The
obvious answer is no: It would be hard to dispute that Shakespeare's
plays are more powerful, and more central to our culture, than
Milton's biblical epics or his artfully classical lyrics. Around the
world, when people dream about true love, they think of Romeo and
Juliet; when they thrill with ambition, they think of Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth, and so on down the list of Shakespeare's characters.
Harold Bloom could even speculate, not quite in jest, that
Shakespeare invented human nature, so completely does he seem to
dominate our imagination of what it means to be human.
<http://www.nysun.com/arts/doing-battle-with-the-bard/76756/>Link
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Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2008/05/doing-battle-with-bard-shakespeare-vs.htm>monochrom
at 5/27/2008 03:11:00 PM
