"The Sun to me is darkAnd silent as the Moon,When she deserts the nightHid in her vacant interlunar cave."Milton composes his last extended work as a tragedy according to the classical Unities of Time, Place and Action. Nevertheless it "never was intended for the stage" and is here declaimed by a single reader.Samson the blinded captive, in company with the Chorus of friends and countrymen, receives his visitors on their varying missions and through them his violent story is vividly recalled. Then he is summoned to give a final demonstration of God-given strength to entertain the Philistines, his captors. Famously - and of course, offstage - his performance brings the house down. (Summary by Martin Geeson)
John Milton
John Milton (1608–1674) est l’un des plus grands poètes anglais, célèbre pour son engagement politique et son génie littéraire. Puritain convaincu, il fut un ardent défenseur de la liberté d’expression et un acteur majeur de la révolution anglaise aux côtés de Cromwell. Devenu aveugle en 1652, il dicta *Le Paradis perdu*, son chef-d’œuvre, entre 1658 et 1663, offrant au monde une épopée poétique d’une profondeur inégalée. Son œuvre, à la fois religieuse et humaniste, continue d’inspirer la littérature et la pensée occidentale.
