As a footnote to your mention of Blake, it's intriguing that despite Blake's admiration for Milton, he wrote Satan as a character whose motives we can't clearly see in poems like "The Four Zoas" and tangentially in "Jerusalem". It seems odd, because I would imagine Blake, with his earlier dalliance with Swedenborgianism and his embodiment of the romantic poet, would go further than Milton in extolling Satan.
I always thought it was interesting how Byron modeled himself and all later “Byronic heroes” upon Milton’s Satan.
That means Heathcliffe, Eugene Onegin, James Dean, the sparkly vampire in “Twilight” are ALL of the Devils party and don’t know it.
"And it must be admitted that Satan makes some grand-sounding speeches that college sophomores (and fans of Ayn Rand) find compelling."
This caused me some nasal coffee loss.
Loved the interview with Joel Miller!
As a footnote to your mention of Blake, it's intriguing that despite Blake's admiration for Milton, he wrote Satan as a character whose motives we can't clearly see in poems like "The Four Zoas" and tangentially in "Jerusalem". It seems odd, because I would imagine Blake, with his earlier dalliance with Swedenborgianism and his embodiment of the romantic poet, would go further than Milton in extolling Satan.