Poetry and Prose of John Milton

Censorship, Milton and the Internet

2009-07-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Published a post on my other blog which may be of interest to you Milton experts. Would be interested in your feedback there!

Milton Take Home Final Available

2009-06-30T07:42:00.001-07:00

Finally!

Paradise Lost - Finale - Picking Up the Pieces

2009-06-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

Books 10-12:

After the fall - who picks up the pieces?

Can we return to our question of who is the real hero of Paradise Lost? Is there one? How does human history move forward in Milton's epic?

A critic referred to the last two books as 'untransmutable lump' - is he right? What is the function of the last two books? Why the turn to history?

What is the promise that God makes to Adam and Eve in 10.175-193? How does Satan understand it? How does the Edenic pair understand it? Do they get it right? What does it take for them to understand it properly?

Milton's claims that the consolation for Adam and Eve is the 'paradise within happier far'? What is the nature of the consolation?

We will also discuss the final take-home exam. And there will hopefully be refreshments (everyone can feel free to contribute!) for our last class together on Milton.

For a preview of the take-home final, here are the instructions:

Please answer three of the questions listed below, making sure that you answer two questions about Milton’s poetry, and one about Milton’s prose. You may, if you so choose, substitute a question of your own for one of those listed. Please be careful to choose questions in such a way that your answers do not overlap. Your answers should aim to be both lucid and comprehensive; there should be no need, however, to consult any other material than your classroom notes and the texts themselves. Do take the opportunity to use those texts (where appropriate) to help elaborate your argument. There is no necessary length requirement; but remember, as mentioned above, try to be as comprehensive as possible. Try to use the questions as entry-points to get to what matters in the works which we have studied. This is a good opportunity to consolidate the material which we have discussed up until this point!

she pluck'd she eat: Paradise Lost 7,8,9 Updated

2009-06-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Some questions:

1. In Book 7, how does Milton imagine creation - does the conception of creation (especially 168-172) parallel our discussion of Miltonic cosmology in Book 5?

2. What does Milton mean by 'process of speech' in line 177?

3. How does Milton deal with questions of representation in lines 601-605? Can we generalize from these lines to Milton's general strategies of representation?

4. Is Milton interested in cosmology? Does he want us to be similarly interested? How does he take sides in the debates between Copernicus and Ptolemy? Why? Do Adam and Even need to take an advanced degree course in astronomy?

5. How does the representation of Adam's creation differ from that of Eve?

6. Does Milton turn the relatonship between the genders into a theological problem? What is the difference between Adam and Eve? between genders?

7. How does the invocation to Book 9 function? How does Milton further affiliate himself with classical epic traditions? how does he distance himself from those traditions?

8. On what do Adam and Eve disagree before they fall? Which one of them is right?

9. Why do the Edenic pair fall? Where does the fault lie for Eve's fault? for Adam's? By what means does Satan trip up Adam and Eve? How does Milton portray Satan as tempter? What is the particular threat which he represents?

10. How does Adam respond after the fall of Eve? Does he do the right thing?

See ya Monday!

What's Up With Milton? Paradise Lost - Books 5 and 6

2009-06-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in angels? And even if you don't, if you did, would the angels you believed in eat? That is: why do Milton's angels eat? (among other things) Is Milton just having a good time with his audience or is there something more important at stake?

To Adam's inquiry, how does Raphael describe the cosmos? particularly the relationship between spirit and matter? Is there a relationship between Raphael's cosmological musings and Milton's emphasis on angelic digestion?

How does the interaction between Gabriel and Satan at the end of Book 4 help in our understandings of Miltonic heroism? What about the interaction between Abdiel and Satan in Book 5? And finally, what about the war in heaven? Is that the place of true heroism?

Some Critics on Milton

2009-06-02T02:52:00.000-07:00

Our self-help sheet is now available on the class documents site.

The secondary material on Milton is - as we have suggested - immense. You can begin to get your bearings here.

But here's a quick run through of some more recent critics that may useful (To say it's an incomplete list is an understatement: I will add to the list when I have the chance):

William Empson, Milton's God
Stanley Fish, Surprised by Sin
Christopher Hill, Milton and the English Revolution
Edward Tayler, Milton's Poetry: Its Development in Time
Marshall Grossman, Authors to Themselves
Stephen Fallon, Milton Among the Philosophers
John Rogers, The Matter of Revolution
Victoria Silver, Imperfect Sense, The Predicament of Milton's Irony
David Loewenstein and James Grantham Turner, Politics, Poetics ad Hermeneutics
Sharon Achinstein, Milton and the Revolutionary Reader

In addition, the MLA bibliography is the best resource for finding critical materials on the issues which are of most interest to you in Milton's work.

I will be available in my office for consultation about paper topics during my office hours.

Coming Attractions: Paradise Lost, Books III and IV

2009-05-26T04:25:00.000-07:00

Just to keep track some of the questions which we have been asking about Paradise Lost.

1. In what ways does the poem register political defeat or loss? In a more general sense, in what sense is the poem political? Does Satan really give voice to Milton's own claims for liberty? In what way might Milton qualify a reader's initial enthusiasm in identifying the perspective of Satan with that of the poet?

2. What are the different narrative perspectives present in Paradise Lost? Is there suspense in the poem? When a reader feels suspense, what point of view - or perspective on narrative - would she be adopting? How do such issues of narrative relate to other questions we raised - about time and free will?

3. What is the psychology of defeat for the Satanic host? What are the ways in which the various devils cheer themselves up?

4. Are the devils (and the angels who we are about to meet in Book IV) physical? spiritual? Does it make a difference?

For next time, some preliminary questions:

1. What kind of vision does Milton claim for himself in the poetic invocation to Book III?

2. How does Milton further refine conceptions of free will and determinism in book III? Doesn't Milton indulge in the same philosophical thoughts as the devils who the poet figures in Book II 'in wandering mazes lost"?

3. Why is Milton's God so boring?

4. Are there significant differences between Satan's volunteering to fly to earth in Book II and Jesus' volunteering in Book III? Do both Satan and Jesus want glory? Is there a difference?

4. How does Milton represent Adam and Eve in Book IV? How does Milton represent gender? sexuality? Is Milton a misogynist?

5. How does Milton represent Eden? In Book III, Milton claims he is going to represent things 'invisible to mortal sight' - how does he do that in relationship to Eden?

6. What is Milton's attitude towards marriage?

Watch this space for clarifications and additions.

Paradise Lost Questions - Finally!

2009-05-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

For our next class, we will be reading the first two books of Paradise Lost.

Some questions to consider:

1. How does the invocation function in the poem? How does it outline the 'plot' of the epic? What is that plot? And how does Milton figure time in these opening lines?

2. How does Milton conceive of his poem in relationship to antecedents? What precedent traditions is he invoking? How does Milton put himself into relationship to those traditions?

3. Why does the action - if such a term can be used in relation to Paradise Lost - begin in hell? How does Milton figure the satanic host? What metaphors or similes does he use to represent Satan? Are there particular passages which you find to be particulary useful in helping to understand Milton's attitude towards Satan? Finally, is Blake right: is Milton really of the devil's party without knowing it?

Watch this space for possible further updates.

Paradise Lost

2009-05-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

In the end, we will have our next meeting on Paradise Lost a week from Monday, May 25.

Watch this space for guidance and questions.

Reason and Authority in Milton and Hobbes

2009-05-05T03:33:00.000-07:00

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Packet of readings for our class can be found here. In reading Hobbes, concentrate in chapter 5 on the definition of reason; the discussion of wit and fancy in chapter 7 (as well as the discussion of inspiration at the end of the chapter); all of chapters 13 and 17 (we will look at important parts of chapters 14 and 18 together in class).

For next time we will continue our readings of Milton's prose. We will be reading from Milton's Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and Hobbes' Leviathan. Though I have placed texts on reserve, both works are available on the internet - so we will be working with those versions for the purposes of our class discussion. The internet text of Milton's work is unpaginated - we will be reading from the beginning through the paragraph which begins: 'But of these I name no more, lest it bee objected they were Heathen....' In Leviathan, we will be looking at Part I, chapters 5, 8, 13, 14; Part II, chapters 17 and 18 - available here. We may also look at the Putney Debates - discussions among radical groups on the nature of authority and government. Background to those debates are available here; the transcription of the debates here (take a look if you have the time). We also hope to read Andrew Marvell's Horatian Ode. For cool stuff about the trial and execution of Charles, check here.

Some questions:

1. Why does Milton write the Tenure? How does Milton explain that his countrymen are not pursuing the path of 'reformation'?

2. How do Milton, Hobbes and the Levellers of the Putney tracts constitute authority differently? How are the Hobbesian and Miltonic conceptions of authority related to their corresponding conceptions of reason? Do Hobbes and Milton share a conception of 'right reason'? In what ways are their conceptions different?

3. Following our discussion of Areopagitica, how do Milton and Hobbes differ in their relationship to multiplicity? Does the discussion of wit, fancy and judgment in chapter 8 have a bearing on the conception of political compact in chapters 17 and 18? How is the Hobbesian individual different from the Miltonic individual? Does Hobbes also entertain a notion of discordia concors? If so, how is it different from that of Milton?

4. How do different accounts of history lead to differing conceptions of authority?

Stay tuned for possible amplifications and revisions.

Areopagitica

2009-04-29T02:15:00.000-07:00

For next time, we will be reading Milton's prose tract, Areopagitica.

Questions we will be asking:

1. What is the genre of Milton's prose tract? What was the occasion of its composition? For whom was it written? Why did Milton write the tract? What are the aims of the tract?

2. What were the particular contexts for Milton's composition? Given these contexts, what is strange about the frontispiece of the tract figured above?

3. Critics claim that Milton began the early modern challenge to censorship. Is this born out by a reading of his prose tract?

4. 'Milton was a liberal before his time.' Do you agree?

5. 'Milton's London was like Petrograd in 1945 and Havana in 1965, and Areopagitica was neither liberal or libertarian in its time; it is a militant and exclusivist revolutionary pamphlet.' Do you agree with this sentiment?

6. How does Milton represent difference in his prose tract? What does he think about - in his own terms - about sects and schisms?

7. Milton - as we saw in relationship to Lycidas - was attacked for his metaphysical temperament. Are there ways in which the sensibility that nourised - according to Dr. Johnson - discordia concors in his poetry is also present in Areopagitica?

A text of the tract - if not in your anthologies - is available here.

Lycidas

2009-04-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some questions to think about for reading 'Lycidas':

1. What is the genre of 'Lycidas' and how does Milton approach it? Is his approach to the genre of 'Lycidas' parallel in some ways to his approach to 'Comus'?

2. Dr. Johnson wrote that in Milton's poem 'trifling fictions are mingled' with the 'most awful and sacred truths, such as ought never to be polluted with such irreverend combinations.' Is Johnson's critique justified?

3. A contemporary critic writes that 'Lycidas' criticism is “an effort to bind and clamp together a universe trying to fly off into separate bits.' Do you agree with this evaluation? What are the separate bits to which the critic refers? Does the poem have a discernible structure? Is there a progression from one part to the next? Or does Milton show himself unable to control the different materials of his poem?

Comus' Greatest Hits

2009-04-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Check out here for songs by Henry Lawes - including some from Comus.

Comus!

2009-04-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

In our next meeting we will be reading Milton's Masque at Ludlow, more popularly known as Comus. As preparation for reading Comus, please read Ben Jonson's masque, Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue which is available as a pdf file on our documents site.

In preparing for our class, please think about the following questions:

1. What is a masque? Where was it performed? Is this particular literary genre associated with a social class? Marxist literary critics argue that genres are laden with certain ideological assumptions; is that true of the masque? If so, how does Milton make his peacce with writing the masque? Does he accommodate his poetic sensibility to the ideological underpinnings of the masque?

2. How does Milton deal with the more specific antecedent for Comus in Jonson's text. Does Milton entertain the reconciliation achieved in Jonson's mask - is there a possibility of the reconciliation of 'Pleasure' and 'Virtue' in Milton's text?

3. Does Milton continue to think about poetry as he did in the earlier companion poems? Are there forms of poetry which Milton embraces? forms of poetry which he rejects? if so, why?

4. Finally, why do you think the poem has come to be known by the name Comus?

Comments with links to helpful sites about the masque - images would be great! - are welcome.

These are some preliminary thoughts for the diligent among you. Check back after Pesach for possible further thoughts and guidance.

L'Allegro and Il Penseroso Revisited

2009-03-31T12:47:00.001-07:00

Though I am not accustomed to writing for the Milton Online Discussion List, I decided nonetheless to give an account of our reading - and how it developed from the question posed on the list. I'm copying my comment below. I will let you know if there are any interesting responses. Watch this space!

As I happened to be teaching the twin poems, I presented to my graduate students the alternative approaches presented on the list, that - as I understand them - either a. the sensibilities of the two poems represent complimentary personae (or as someone said 'avatars'), or b. Milton preferred one of these sensibilities, namely that of 'Il Penseroso.'

By the end of our class discussions, we found both of the approaches unsatisfactory in that neither takes into account the temporal aspect of the poems, or more particularly, the way the poems provide an implicit narrative of the life of the poet. This is not to read anachronistically and suggest that since Milton later wrote religious poetry, he obviously prefers the sensibility of the later poem (as I think our precocious List contributor suggested), but rather to attend to the way Milton's poems provide a conception of the shape of the life of the poet. 'L'allegro' self-consciously provides images of those 'sights as youthful Poets dream'; while the corresponding poem anticipates a poetry of 'weary age,' which approaches something like 'prophetic strain.' As Virgil could not write the Aenied without having first written the Eclogues (and Spenser not the Fairie Queen without the Sheperd's Calender), so Milton's twin poems both provide and anticipate the shape of a poetic career. In this light, the former poem's 'straight mine eyes hath caught new pleasures' may serve as Milton's affirmation that despite the exhausting of golden poetry with Marlowe and Raleigh, and it's dismissal in Donne, it still must serve Milton - in writing his own poetic career.

Such an argument, however, does not mean preferring the 'service high' of the latter poem. For it makes no sense to say that one prefers the insights of one's adulthood when it's the youthful poetry and sensibility which allows that latter perspective - and aesthetic - to emerge. True, the form of the companion poems leads us to think that Milton was thinking in terms of oppositions (and the metaphysics of the latter poem opposing the 'immortal mind' to the 'fleshly nook' shows Miltons still to be a dualist). Thinking of the poems as part of a process of both imagining and writing his poetic career, however, may find the latter sensibility to hold greater promise (yes, I'm avoiding the term preferable), but the earlier one is nonetheless indispensable in making that latter perspective possible.

L'allegro and Il Penseroso

2009-03-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

For next time, we will be looking at the companion poems, "L'allegro" and "Il Penseroso."

What is Milton's strategy in the writing companion poems? What is the relationship between the "Mirth" celebrated in "L'Allegro" and the "Melancholy" represented in "Il Penseroso." With what does Milton associate mirth? with what melancholy? One famous critic writes that "the competing visions of the two poem represent equally viable conceptions of life." Do you agree?

In what ways do the poems announce their relationship? Are there particular passages in the poems - you may want to compile a list - which show clearly the relationship between them? That is, are there explicit echoes of the former poem in the latter? Are there notable differences?

When Milton - or any seventeenth century figure for that matter - refers to 'melancholy,' what does he mean? Is the "loathed melancholy" which "L'allegro" rejects the same as the perspective of melancholy developed in "Il Penseroso"? You may want to check out Durer's Melancholy to get a sense of early modern understandings of the term.

Is there some way in which Milton - in the two poems - is meditating on poetry and poetic style? How do the twin poems show Milton in relationship to antecedent literary styles and literary figures? (see his poem "On Shakespeare" copied below) Is there some way in which Milton is commenting on literary history? showing a path towards a new kind of poetry?

For those of you who are interested in Milton's 1645 Poems (frontispiece above), the full text of the original edition is available on our documents site.

On Shakespeare

WHat needs my Shakespear for his honour'd Bones,
The labour of an age in piled Stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame, [ 5 ]
What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
For whilst to th' shame of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart [ 10 ]
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalu'd Book,
Those Delphick lines with deep impression took,
Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving;
And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie, [ 15 ]
That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die.

So as an addendum: I will mention that on the Milton List Server - a discussion list for Milton scholars (can you believe it?), someone just posted the following:

"Hey, i am just a high school student writing about John Milton's poem's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." My prompt i made for my senior project was, If the two poems above were considered a debate, an argument, or two sides of an issue or debate, or two people, which side or person would Milton most prefer or like? My answer was "Il Penseroso." Would any of you agree with me?"

Here is a response that he got from some college professor somewhere:

I don't think Milton (the speaker? the author? the man?) prefers one of them over the other, since a very strong case may be made for either or both. I believe his "intention," if we need to attribute it, was to present two aspects of the same personality, or twinned avatars who are opposites. What good is a life full of melancholy (especially as the Renaissance understood this humour) without mirth? Or mirth without seriousness? Each is shown as lacking (needing) the balance of the other for good health. Since each of these figures is presented as very appealing, I would argue that Milton would "prefer" to have both.By the way, the inability to resolve a theoretical conflict was what drove the 18th century to conjure up "Il Moderato" for the Handel setting as a new text appended to adaptations of Milton's two originals. Tertium quid (a precursor of Hegelian dialectic) works well to settle such arguments as you propose.Therefore, whichever personification of mood you choose, you will be correct (and wrong!).

Do you agree?

Room Change

2009-03-22T03:44:00.000-07:00

For our class on Monday, March 23, we will be meeting in the conference room, 215 SAL.

Nativity Ode

2009-03-17T01:38:00.001-07:00

Some questions for guiding our readings of Milton's 'Nativity Ode':

Following up our discussion, and some of the questions asked during class:

What is the relationship between Milton’s classical and theological commitments in the poem? What does it mean to invoke the classics? And what does it mean to invoke the narratives from Christian theology? Put in another register, do the languages of theology co-exist with the languages of classical learning? How does Milton negotiate this issue in his early poem?

Do the contexts of metaphysical poetry (and the kind of aesthetic it represent) provide a meaningful context for understanding the 'Nativity Ode'?

How does Milton represent time in the poem? Is there a relationship between Milton's representation of time in 'Of Time' and the representation of time in the ode? How might Kermode's conceptions of chronos and kairos help in reading Milton's poem? (here we might also think of Esti's comments in class about Judaeo-Christian notions of time). Please do - if you have the opportunity - read the chapter 'Fictions' in Kermode's Sense of an Ending. We will be especially interested in the material on pages 44-47.

What is the role of music in the Nativity Ode?

As you may know, on Wednesday there is a Bar Ilan conference on Early Modern England - at which I will be giving a paper on our man...

Welcome

2009-03-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the site for our course, the Poetry and Prose of John Milton. Please check the site regularly for updates and information. The syllabus can be found here - the documents site for our course.