Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper seeks to assess the importance of parody as a continuing element in the structure of Milton's poems. It considers first the extended oppositions marshaled around the area of decision in Comus. Parodic dispositions play a crucial part in defining these oppositions and in relating them to the central act of choice. The masque form allows a preliminary rehearsal in which the didactic kernel of the oeuvre can be elegantly choreographed. In Paradise Lost we see the massive and intricate structural elaboration of the principles expounded in the masque. The structures thus established enclose a human journey. Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes are the poems of this journey, with the emphasis, previously distributed more or less equally between the envelopment and the agents, now falling more heavily on the agents. The continuing and prominent presence of parody in Milton's structures and the decisive part it plays in setting those structures in motion indicate that Milton's use of parody amounts to more than a poetic technique or literary strategy. In Milton's work the structure is the issue and parody part of an education in the nature of understanding.
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