John MiltonBackground

John Milton

• One of the best English poets

• Most of his work is in Latin

• Paradise Lost puts him on a level with Shakespeare and Chaucer

• Well educated

• Considered himself “God’s poet”

• Supported Puritans and Oliver Cromwell

• Supported execution of Charles I

• Secretary of State for Foreign Tongues

• Imprisoned when monarchy was restored

Making Darkness Visible

• By 1652, Milton was blind, disgraced, and disillusioned

• Monarchy restored

• Jailed

• Retold Biblical story of creation, fall, and redemption of humanity

• Greatest epic in English

• Wrote for 10 years

• Dictated for his daughters??

• Made about $10

Overview

• In media res - Satan has rebelled against God

• Sent to Hell, Satan wages war with Heaven

• Fall of Adam and Eve - loss of paradise

• “The world was all before them”

• Felix culpa - fortunate fall

Addressing Free Will

• Raphael warns Adam

• Reason and Free Will

• Freedom to choose

• Free Will and Predestination

• God knows all, but people’s choices aren’t predetermined

• Break from Puritan doctrine

Historical Significance

• Milton’s answer to Britain’s state of crisis

• Puritans vs. Church of England

• Civil War - death of Charles I

• The centers of life (religion, monarchy) were destroyed

• Milton helped England find its bearings

• Satan = destructive forces; his fall reestablishes order

Milton’s Legacy

• Milton’s story is almost as well-known as the biblical version

• Influenced William Blake, John Keats, and George Eliot

• Essential reading

• By 19th c., most owned the Bible and Paradise Lost

Epic Poetry

• An epic is a long narrative poem about a hero

• 17th century English writers modeled epics after ancient Greek and Roman poets like Homer

• Features of Homeric epics:

• Story begins in the middle (in media res)

• Opening invocation / call for divine aid in storytelling

• Extended similes

• Speak for an entire culture