Speech Acts in Blake’s Milton

Brian Russell Graham is a two-time graduate of the University of Glasgow, where he completed an M.A. (Hons.) and PhD in English Literature. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Business School. His first monograph, The Necessary Unity of Opposites, published in 2011, is a study of Northrop Frye, particularly Frye’s dialectical thinking. His second monograph, On a Common Culture, was published in 2022.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Bard’s Song I: From the Beginning Until The Creation of Fallen SpaceChapter 2: The Bard’s Song II: The Creation of Fallen Time and Death, and Milton’s Response to the SongChapter 3: ‘the forward path / Of Milton’s journey’ and the Opponents of His ProgressChapter 4: Opposition to Milton in Golgonooza and Los’s Defence of the ‘Shadow Terrible’Chapter 5: The Descent of OlolonChapter 6: The Redemption of the ContrariesChapter 7: Coda: Milton as Speech ActBibliographyIndex

"Brian Russell Graham expertly examines Milton a Poem through a close reading that engages with performative speech act theory, using it to demonstrate the importance of the characters’ spoken lines and also to explain how the lack of any direct speech can help to bring about, or forestall, the impending apocalypse... Graham presents a dense and invigorative argument that needs to be followed both carefully and slowly. Readers who are interested in either Milton or performative speech acts will find it a perfect example of how to do a very thorough analysis of Blake’s poem"--Annise Rogers, Blake /An Ilustrated Quarterly