Reinterpretations

First published in 1971, Reinterpretations focusses upon a group of closely related major poems— L’Allegro and Il Penseroso , Milton’s companion pieces, and Lycidas , Pope’s Rape of the Lock and Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot , and Johnson’s London . The critical and interpretive light which Professor Hardy brings to bear on these works constitutes a considerable reinterpretation which informs our understanding of seventeenth and eighteenth century English poetry. In the individual essays, Professor Ha