'The female sublime from Milton to Swinburne' examines the feminisation of the post-Miltonic male poet, not through cultural history, but through a series of mythic or classical figures which include Philomela, Orpheus and Sappho. It recovers a disfiguring sublime imagined as an aggressive female force which feminises the male poet in an act that simultaneously deprives and energises him.
This book will be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the English poetic tradition and Victorian poetry.