"Milton’s late dramatic poem has prompted endless controversy. Critics still cannot agree on whether Milton disavows or endorses the revolutionary violence of his biblical protagonist, who invokes the divine will, pulls the pillars down, and leaves 3000 Philistines dead. Long before 9/11, when Samson’s resemblance to a suicide bomber dramatically heightened the moral stakes of interpretation, Samson Agonistes haunted Blake. Most importantly, the poem provided Blake with a model that distances critical reading from misguided acts of human violence without entirely suppressing the enthusiast’s belief that divine violence and justice remain possible. The reader of Milton and Blake thus occupies a position increasingly characteristic of the modern progressive critic, who (in the words of Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe) must 'neither act nor desist.'"