Who wrote the 17th century verse play Samson Agonistes?
Samson Agonistes Samson Agonistes Samson Agonistes (from Greek Σαμσών ἀγωνιστής, "Samson the champion") is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's " Paradise Regain'd" in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To Which Is Added / Samson Agonistes". It is generally thought that "Samson Agonistes" was begun around the same time as "Paradise Regained" but was completed after the larger work, possibly very close to the date of publishing, but there is no agreement on this. Milton began plotting various subjects for
Samson Agonistes Loewenstein remarks that "the destruction and vengeance depicted in "Samson Agonistes", then, dramatizes a kind of awesome religious terror". Gordon Teskey describes the plot of the work when he says, "delirious violence of the hero of "Samson Agonistes", who cancels the Philistine hallucination of a unified and harmonious world". Against the backdrop of the challenge posed by suicide terrorism, Arata Takeda points to ethical implications arising from Samson's "brutal massacre committed against civilians attending a religious feast" and the following "lyrical extolment of the suicide mass murder". The play itself suggests the horror within the actions through descriptive phrases, including