Joseph Wittreich reveals Samson to be an intensely political work that reflects the heroic ambitions and failings of the Puritan Revolution and the tragic ambiguities of the era. He sees in the work not the purveyance of Medieval and early Renaissance typological associations but an interrogation of them and a consequent movement away from them. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Following Carey's lead, other critics, notably Irene Samuel, began to question the various elements, large and small, of the traditional interpretation of Samson Agonistes. Milton's religious and political thinking, his use of prosody and verse, his outlook on tragedy, and the like were all reexamined.".

Heroic Knowledge was first published in 1957. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. Professor Stein's critical work on Milton which was launched in his earlier book, Answerable Style: Essays on Paradise Lost, is completed in this volume. He devotes eight essays to Paradise Regained and five to Samson Agonistes. In addition, a preface explains his assumptions and a postscript connects and extends the implications of his work. The author's purpose and method are, perhaps, best described in his own words: "For the most part I have tried to demonstrate rather than to argue, and have (except in some notes) avoided engaging the established critical problems separately; but have instead trusted that a fresh critical interpretation of the poems would come to terms with the major problems while in motion, as part of a developing grasp of the integrated working of the poems."