ABSTRACT
A case study of demonic possession from the centre of the English canon is Poor Tom in King Lear, who presents possession in the form not just of a concentrated lyric but as a fully realised existence. This has been rather down-played in recent criticism, but here is Swinburne on the play:
We have heard much and often from theologians of the light of revelation: and some such thing indeed we find in Aeschylus; but the darkness of revelation is here. 1
