The
goal of the course is to begin to understand, and maybe also to appreciate, one
of England’s best non-dramatic poets. Tall order? Sure. But here’s how we’ll do
it. We will begin with Milton’s life and times and then consider his first good
poem (“On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity”), his early masterpieces
(“L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” Comus, “Lycidas”), a bit of his
voluminous prose work (Of Education and Areopagitica),
and his mature masterpieces (Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson
Agonistes). In 1642, when he was thirty-three years old, Milton dared to
hope that he might “perhaps leave something so written to aftertimes, as they
should not willingly let it die.” Milton’s youthful wish has come true: more
than three centuries after Milton died in 1674, we are still reading him. In
this course, we will discover why we are still reading him.
Requirements: A fair amount of reading, some short reaction letters and
also short responses (posted on the class’s Laulima site), a brief (two pages)
essay on one of Milton’s sonnets, a short (four pages) essay on the “Fair
Infant” ode, a long (at least six pages) essay on Paradise Lost, an individual project chosen
from a list of possibilities (e.g., an exercise asking you to map Paradise
Lost in time and space; a marathon reading of Paradise Lost), an
oral report on a critical article about a Milton text, a final examination,
faithful class attendance, and frequent class participation.
Required Texts
Merritt Y. Hughes, ed., John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose
(1957).
Lois
Potter, A Preface to Milton, rev. ed.
(2000).
Recommended Texts
Dennis Danielson, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Milton, 2nd
ed. (1999).
Isabel Rivers, Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poems: A
Student’s Guide, 2nd ed. (1994).