David Ainsworth is Assistant Chair and Associate Professor of English at the University of Alabama, and part of the faculty of the Hudson Strode Program for Renaissance Studies housed there. His first book, Milton and the Spiritual Reader: Reading and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England was published by Routledge in 2008, and he has published articles in journals including Milton Quarterly, Religion and Literature, and SEL.

• IntroductionSpiritual ReadingMusical ReadingThree Approaches for Musical ReadingHarmonyDissonance and DiscordSolo and Choral Song1 Spiritual HarmonyMusic with a PurposeHeavenly Harmony and the SpiritHearing the Inexpressible: Music and Transcendent Indefinition2 Spiritual HermeneuticsThe Spirit’s Role in ReadingGod, the Spirit, and Truth3 Spiritual and Musical TeleologyThe Teleology of the SpiritMusic as Metaphor: Playing Poetic Games4 Harmonious ReadingHarmony and Milton’s TrinityConcord, Discord, and Marriage5 Music and Literary InterpretationReading Samson Agonistes Musically"He may dispense with me or thee:" Concord and Discord with GodDying is Easy; Harmony is HardConclusion

David Ainsworth is Assistant Chair and Associate Professor of English at the University of Alabama, and part of the faculty of the Hudson Strode Program for Renaissance Studies housed there. His first book, Milton and the Spiritual Reader: Reading and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England was published by Routledge in 2008, and he has published articles in journals including Milton Quarterly, Religion and Literature, and SEL.

• IntroductionSpiritual ReadingMusical ReadingThree Approaches for Musical ReadingHarmonyDissonance and DiscordSolo and Choral Song1 Spiritual HarmonyMusic with a PurposeHeavenly Harmony and the SpiritHearing the Inexpressible: Music and Transcendent Indefinition2 Spiritual HermeneuticsThe Spirit’s Role in ReadingGod, the Spirit, and Truth3 Spiritual and Musical TeleologyThe Teleology of the SpiritMusic as Metaphor: Playing Poetic Games4 Harmonious ReadingHarmony and Milton’s TrinityConcord, Discord, and Marriage5 Music and Literary InterpretationReading Samson Agonistes Musically"He may dispense with me or thee:" Concord and Discord with GodDying is Easy; Harmony is HardConclusion

David Ainsworth is Assistant Chair and Associate Professor of English at the University of Alabama, and part of the faculty of the Hudson Strode Program for Renaissance Studies housed there. His first book, Milton and the Spiritual Reader: Reading and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England was published by Routledge in 2008, and he has published articles in journals including Milton Quarterly, Religion and Literature, and SEL.

• IntroductionSpiritual ReadingMusical ReadingThree Approaches for Musical ReadingHarmonyDissonance and DiscordSolo and Choral Song1 Spiritual HarmonyMusic with a PurposeHeavenly Harmony and the SpiritHearing the Inexpressible: Music and Transcendent Indefinition2 Spiritual HermeneuticsThe Spirit’s Role in ReadingGod, the Spirit, and Truth3 Spiritual and Musical TeleologyThe Teleology of the SpiritMusic as Metaphor: Playing Poetic Games4 Harmonious ReadingHarmony and Milton’s TrinityConcord, Discord, and Marriage5 Music and Literary InterpretationReading Samson Agonistes Musically"He may dispense with me or thee:" Concord and Discord with GodDying is Easy; Harmony is HardConclusion