Genre Combination and Interpretation Johnson on Paradise Lost

This chapter turns to the most common means of genre evolution, new combinations of genres. For example, in Gray’s Elegy, the setting of the familiar English churchyard combines the elegy with loco-descriptive poetry, a new genre to be discussed in later chapters. The focus at this point is that genre combinations are a key for interpretation. Most of the chapter concerns a discussion of Johnson’s explanation of what he deems to be the two faults of Paradise Lost, namely, its lack of human interest and the allegory of Sin and Death. Both flaws are related to failed attempts to appeal to the perspective of the reader.