MLR, 104.1, 2009 171 momentofcrisis, the Sonwillmodel,asanalternative tothe heroism ofstrength and cleverness of theepic tradition, a heroism basedon selflessness and loving concern that he has learnedfromtheFatherand that hasbeen reinforced through hisown richandvariedexperience asonecaringforthe world' (p.96). As well as thisoriginality ofapproach,thebook alsobringsintofocusepisodes and linesthat haveoften escaped more research-oriented readings, andnew lines on pivotalepisodessuchasEve seeing herreflection. Thickstun isa cannyclosereader. This isnot a book thatwill please everyone, but it will be a help to teachers and stu dents ofthetext who areopen todifferent notions of 'relevance', andofhowa classic text might be enlivened fora new readership-and, aswe so often sayof Shakespeare, how Miltonhasgotinbefore uswhenwe think we havediscovered something new. KEELE UNIVERSITY ROGER POOLEY Poetry andEcologyinthe Ageof Miltonand Marvell. ByDIANEKELSEY MCCOLLEY. Aldershot: Ashgate.2007. Xii+252pp. ?55. ISBN978-0-7546-6048-4. Thisstudy presents a convincing challenge tothe misconceptionthat'pre-Romantic andpre-Darwinian poetry[. . .] isintrinsically unecological, or that"ecocriticism" of it is intrinsically anachronistic' (p. 1). At a time when Baconian science and Cartesiandualismwere reinforcing both theancientpolarity ofmatterand spirit and thebeliefthat humankind had absolutedominionover therestof creation, certainpoets-variouslydefinableasmonists,vitalists, or animist materialists shared a conviction 'thatnature is alive in all her parts' (p. 68) and an impulse 'to giveresponsible attention to theearthand tonon-human creatures' (p. 2).Diane McColley illuminates the'ecological wisdom' that was 'already present and isstill valuablyoperative'(p. 2) in some seventeenth-century poetryand demonstrates theemergence of a languagefor promoting'perception ofnatureand a senseof connection within it' (p. 7).Whereas empiricalsciencestressedtheneed forra tionaland unambiguous expression, poets suchasMilton,Marvell,andVaughan sought to weave 'the fabric of language in ways that enable themind and the sensestoperceivethe wovennessof thenatural world' (p. 2).Thisdoes notmean, however, thattheyignored orwere hostiletowards thediscoveries of those who were laying thefoundations of modernchemistry, physics, andbiology. Perceptions and representations ofnature werebeingchangedby theadventof telescopes and microscopes,andvitalist poets,althoughstilldrawing upon thetraditional poetic resources ofemblem andallegory, increasingly subordinated figurative meaningsto preciseobservation. Nevertheless, while they'welcomed empirical investigation for itsaccuracy ofperception', they consistently warnedagainstintemperate useof the newknowledge and 'opposedthe pursuit ofconquestandabsolutecontrol'(p.7). Ineachofher main chapters McColley shows howpoetscountered variouskinds ofappropriation of thenatural world-'allegorical, mechanical,instrumental, and commercial'-bythecareful practiceof 'attentive empathy'(p. 9). For example, Marvell represents 'the earth as an oikos, a house for all species' (p. 14) in Upon 172 Reviews Appleton House anddevelopsa flexible linguistic medium for describing thediver sity ofhabitats on the Fairfax estate; MichaelDraytonandJohn Taylor personify the land as a living body and trace the rivers that are itsveins, the latter enumerating humanabusesof theThamesbypollutionand efforts tomanage itsflow;and in responsetodeforestation bybothsidesinthe CivilWar, thedescriptions ofpoets, however pastoral ormetaphorical,'areladen witha senseofrealandwounded trees' (p.98).Chaptersdevotedto 'hylozoic' and 'zoic'poetry-the one describing how poets 'went beyondemblematic uses ofplantstoheed theprocessesof theirlives' (p.1ii) and theotherexamining poems that'encourage awareness of thesentient active lives' (p. 144) of birds and animals-lead into a chapter on the advocacy of vegetarianism and animalrights byearly modernpoetsandnaturalphilosophers. A concludingchapterarguesthat Milton reinterpreted theScripturesinhis two prophetic epicstoset'perceptions of motherEarth, mother Nature,andmotherEve on new trajectories' (p. 197) and to identifySatan as the prototype of all those who assume 'theright toexploit anddestroy thecreation'(p.206). With itswealth of contextual material fromnaturalphilosophy, naturalhis tory, proto-science, and theology, this book goesbeyonditsimpressive ecocritical readings ofearly modern literary textstomake a powerful plea forthenecessary confluence of 'thelanguage ofpoetry, thelanguage of responsible science, and the language ofmoral and politicalphilosophy'(p. io) incurrent debatesabout the environmental crisis. BIRMINGHAM ROBERTWILCHER Passion's Triumph over Reason: A History of the Moral Imagination from Spenser to Rochester. ByCHRISTOPHER TILMOUTH. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. Viii+414 pp. ?65. ISBN 978-o-19-921237-8. Christopher Tilmouth'sambitiousnew book offers a learnedand cohesiveex plorationofmajor culturalinterpretations ofpassion and reasonin thecentury spanningthe worksofEdmundSpenserto thoseof thesecondEarl ofRochester. While lengthy andoften densely written, thevolumeprovidesreaders with a com prehensive analysis ofa timely topicthat shouldproveusefultoscholars workingin a range ofperiodsand in multipledisciplines. Thebook isdividedintotwosubstantial sections. The first, entitled'Governance and the Passions',includes chapters on early modernmoral thought, Spenser, Ham let, Renaissancetragedy, and 'Augustinian andAristotelian Influences from Herbert to Milton'. The secondpart, 'TheRise and Fall ofLibertinism', considers Hobbes and therise ofLibertinism duringthe Restoration, then concludes witha chapter on Rochester andabrief, though masterly, codawhich mapsoutthelingering influences of theideasthat havebeendiscussedsocogently throughout the monograph. Tilmouth'sowndescription of thebook aptlyillustrates itsconsiderable scope: 'This...