Origins, Authorship, and the Sublime between Late Antique Theory and Renaissance Hexameral Poetry

What is it about?

The essay explores how the appropriation of Longinus’ "Peri hupsous" in Renaissance theory and practice contributed to the formation of modern authorship in hexameral poetry by focusing on Torquato Tasso’s "Il mondo creato" (1594, published posthumously in 1607) and John Milton’s "Paradise Lost" (1667).

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Why is it important?

Rooted in the combination of artistic and divine creation within the discourse of sublime poetry, "Il mondo creato" and "Paradise Lost" share the same premise in their representations of God’s fashioning of the world. However, a closer look at these two hexameral poems shows that, despite their convergence in the appropriation of classical and Christian sublimity, the relationship between great, inspired poetry, on the one hand, and divine and human creation, on the other, is articulated differently.