C. S. Lewis, an Oxford literary scholar as well as a popular Christian writer, wrote A Preface to Paradise Lost from his 1941 Ballard Matthews lectures, published by Oxford University Press's Clarendon Press. It remains one of the most influential twentieth century studies of Milton's epic, arguing the poem should be read on its own terms as a serious statement of Christian cosmology rather than judged by later Romantic sympathy for Satan as its hero. Its strength is Lewis's own deep scholarly command of Renaissance epic convention. Its limit is that it is itself an argued critical position within Milton scholarship, one many later critics have contested, not a neutral summary of the poem.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
C. S. Lewis's A Preface to Paradise Lost, published by Oxford University Press's Clarendon Press in 1942 from his Ballard Matthews lectures, the top tier reflecting a foundational work of Milton criticism by an Oxford scholar of Renaissance literature defending the poem's theology and epic form against earlier Romantic readings. Its limit is that it also argues a distinctly Christian reading of Milton's cosmology, so a claim about Paradise Lost's reception more broadly benefits from a source outside that specific critical tradition as well. NotesA foundational work of Milton scholarship, developed from Lewis's 1941 Ballard Matthews lectures at the University College of North Wales, arguing that Paradise Lost's theology is a deliberate, orthodox epic statement rather than an accidental sympathy for its Satan. Assigned and cited in Milton studies for more than eight decades, on both sides of the critical argument it helped define.
Citation
AuthorC. S. Lewis
PublisherOxford University Press (Clarendon Press)
Publication Year1942
Source TypeBook (scholarly)
Claims Backed By This Source (11 claims)
This source backs 11 claims across the atlas. As facts: 9 well-attested. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
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- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Articles, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Literary Works, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
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