T·S·艾略特写过两篇评述弥尔顿的著名文章,但这两篇文章猛烈攻击弥尔顿的诗歌,直接导致20世纪30年代至60年代弥尔顿的经典地位遭到颠覆。尽管艾略特作为新批评派的鼻祖,他对弥尔顿的攻击实际上却具有强烈的主观目的性。文学经典无疑具有一定的本质内在特性,但更是政治意识形态和文化权力作用的历史产物。通过分析和回应艾略特对弥尔顿的批评,并再为弥尔顿辩护,可以管窥批评话语在文学经典建制中的主观性和历史性。 TS Eliot wrote two famous articles on Milton, but both of these articles violently attacked Milton’s poetry, leading directly to the subversion of Milton’s classic position from the 1930s to the 1960s. Although Eliot was the originator of the new critics, his attack on Milton actually had a strong subjective purpose. Literary classics undoubtedly have certain inherent characteristics, but they are also the historical products of the role of political ideology and cultural power. By analyzing and responding to Eliot ’s criticism of Milton and defending Milton, the subjectivity and historicity of critical discourse in the establishment of literary can be consid- ered.