Samson Agonistes

Samson Agonistes, a tragedy by Milton, published 1671, in the same volume as Paradise Regained. A closet drama never intended for the stage, it is modelled on Greek tragedy. Predominantly in blank verse, it also contains passages of great metrical freedom and originality, and some rhyme. Samson Agonistes (i.e. Samson the Wrestler, or Champion) deals with the last phase of the life of the Samson of the Book of Judges when he is a prisoner of the Philistines and blind, a phase which many have compared to the assumed circumstances of the blind poet himself, after the collapse of the Commonwealth and his political hopes.

Samson, in prison at Gaza, is visited by friends of his tribe (the Chorus) who comfort him; then by his old father Manoa, who holds out hopes of securing his release; then by his wife Dalila (see Delilah) who seeks pardon and reconciliation, but being repudiated shows herself ‘a manifest Serpent’; then by Harapha, a strong man of Gath, who taunts Samson. He is finally summoned to provide amusement by feats of strength for the Philistines, who are celebrating a feast to Dagon. He goes, and presently a messenger brings news of his final feat of strength in which he pulled down the pillars of the place where the assembly was gathered, destroying himself as well as the entire throng.