ABSTRACT
Miltonic parody. Some Miltonic resonance, even parody, also results inevitably from the blank verse stipulated by Lady Austen. Cowper is no more capable of escaping Milton's stylistic influence than were Thomson, Young, or the not inconsiderable band of blank-verse georgic poets. In Cowper's case Paradise Lost also exercised a direct influence upon his religious life and therefore upon far deeper concerns of The Task than georgic or naturedescription.
