See James Egan's review in Milton Quarterly 44.4 (2010): 281–84. Chapters 2–5 provide intellectual history regarding rhetoric (classical, Renaissance,See James Egan's review in Milton Quarterly 44.4 (2010): 281–84. Chapters 2–5 provide intellectual history regarding rhetoric (classical, Renaissance, Milton). Chapter 6 begins close readings....more
I've read/used Danielson's chapter (probably back in 2014). Skimmed McColley's chapter on Jan. 29, 2018.
Dobranski, "Milton's social life" (read on OctI've read/used Danielson's chapter (probably back in 2014). Skimmed McColley's chapter on Jan. 29, 2018.
Dobranski, "Milton's social life" (read on Oct. 24, 2019) People tend to interpret JM biographically, in part because of JM's own comments about himself. But we shouldn't imagine him as a reclusive, socially isolated poet. JM wrote poetry from an early age (c. age 10), and it was mostly to or about others. He was close with Charles Diodati (St. Paul's School and Christ's College) and Edward King (Christ's College). JM had a good reputation/rapport at Cambridge, and even though he lived with his family for a few years after that (and studied intensely), it was probably out of convenience. He had initially thought about going into the ministry, but he became disgusted with Episcopalian church government. His invitations to write about Shakespeare (1632) Edward King (1638) show that book trade folks were aware of him. JM's trip to Italy shows his sociability (letters of introduction; met famous continental figures, including Grotius and Galileo). JM circulated his works among friends. His anti-prelatical pamphlets (including Reason and Apology/Smectymnuss) show his sociability. He was a teacher (taught his nephews). JM transitioned from pastoral work to more serious poetry. Dobranski looks at JM's marriage to Mary Powell (11–12). JM's last two divorce tracts (Tetrachordon and Colasterion) were published the same year (1645) as his Poems, which show his reliance on others for publication. Areopagitica (1644) is very social in content, but also in argument: truth needs to be discovered in public, not determined by a small committee. His next prose work is Tenure (1649), which defends regicide (people have a moral right to depose a tyrant). JM casts himself as more private in his Defensio Secunda (1654), in which he recounts his surprise at being asked to participate in Cromwell's Commonwealth. JM's 1649 Iconoclastes combats Royalist nostalgia/propoganda. JM's 1651 Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio publicly dismantles Salmasius, who defended Charles I (at the request of exiled Charles II); this made Milton internationally famous. While Milton did work as a licensor, Dobranski argues that we shouldn't charge JM with hypocrisy (see other inconsistencies on p. 17); rather, we should praise Milton for being willing to change in pursuit of the truth (as he argues in Areopagitica). JM's Defensio Secunda is very autobiographical—Dobranski reminds us that this is not Milton's independence coming out, because it's an international document that he was asked to write. These social experiences contribute to his later works (PL, PR, SA). Personal tragedies: complete blindness (1652), deaths of wives and children, the Restoration (1660) JM didn't retreat, as some have said; he hosted visitors and worked with friends to complete some of his greatest works. His conversation with Thomas Ellwood prompted the composition of PR. Dobranski uses the situation surrounding JM's De Doctrina Christiana to argue that all of JM's works have a complex authorship (21–21; Ong and loci communes). Others had some power/authority over Milton's works (editors, publishers, licensers). JM's large output of works in his later years
Lewalski, "The genres of Paradise Lost" (read on Oct. 24, 2019) JM's Paradise Lost includes elements from different genres such as epics, romances, dramas, pastorals, lyrics, and rhetorical speeches. Renaissance critical theory saw epics as heterocosms—that's why Homer and the Bible (which has epic qualities) were used in education. Homer's and Virgil's works had this mixture, as did Sidney's and Spenser's. JM as a teacher/rhetor who communicated an educative vision of reality Lewalski defines "genre," "subgenre," and "mode." She also mentions the epic-dramatic-lyric triad from Plato/Aristotle, which appears in JM's Preface to Book 2 of Reason of Church-Government. This framework organizes the rest of the essay (pp. 116–25) until the conclusion. Sometimes specific announcements/signals let readers know which mode we might be in (e.g., heroic mode in Book 1; pastoral mode in Book 4; tragic mode in Book 9). These modes are connected to values. 118: "generic paradigms" 118–20: epic (epic of wrath/strife; quest epic; romance) 120–21: tragic/dramatic 121–25: lyric 122–25: Lewalski has a great section on Adam's and Eve's love lyrics and laments. She argues against the feminist theory that claims that foundational texts exclude women—Eve transforms/Christianizes the tragic lyric.
Leonard, "Language and knowledge in Paradise Lost" (read on Oct. 26, 2019) Adam's language comes naturally (unlike the explorer in Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding). Plato's Cratylus is a likely source for Adam's ability to name accurately (which requires knowledge of the thing's essence). The process of naming animals (knowledge of others) brings Adam self-knowledge: he does not have a fitting mate. Adam has difficulty naming God. Fallen angels lose their names (and gain new ones later as pagan gods). Only Satan has a name (but not in Hell—"Satan" means "enemy," and the fallen angels' "great enemy" is God). Milton uses prelapsarian and postlapsarian names/language. For example, Milton has Adam and Raphael use Latinism that have current bad connotations, but they use the terms innocently before the fall (e.g., "absolved," "serpent error wandering"—both in Book 7). Leonard confronts editors (Hume and Fowler) who interpret Adam's request to hear the story of creation in a negative light. Leonard defines late as meaning "recent" (not "late in time"), and he defends Adam's request, which might not even really be a question (136–38). Leonard discusses Satan's question about creation (138) and the poet's invocation, which asks about first causes (138–39). Leonard concludes by discussing Satan and Eve in Book 9 (139–43). Satan uses "gods" to shift away from God. He uses his speech as evidence of the goodness of the fruit. Eve accepts Satan's twisting of the name of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; see 9.745–60 where she describes the tree as only good. "The corrupting of innocence begins with a corrupting of language" (143).
Danielson, "The Fall and Milton's theodicy" (read again on Oct. ??, 2019)
Carey, "Milton's Satan" (read on Oct. 25–26, 2019) Introduction by dismissing biblical evidence for Satan as scanty. Summum bonum and infimum malum rationalization (Manichaean influence; [Augustine] and privatio boni). The point is the say that Milton's Satan is fabricated. Satanist criticism doesn't start with Romantics (Dryden might have been the first); others include Waldock and Empson. Anti-Satanist critics include Williams, Lewis, and Fish. Neither side is right; Satan's character is ambivalent. Carey uses "depth" to describe this ambivalence—Satan's character is not immediately understandable, compared with the other characters, who are apparently shallow. Carey dismisses the passage in Book 4 where Satan admits his guilt—for Carey, Milton is trying to show how Satan is irredeemable and unforgivable (by pointing out that Satan admits that he would fall again, and worse, if given the chance), yet this is Milton's "fiction," and it simply makes Satan seem trapped. Anti-Satanist critics say Satan is foolish; pro-Satanist critics say he's courageous. Carey think it's illogical that Satan (a rational and perfect being) could think that he could outwit or overpower God. [Carey somehow rules out the possibility that Satan could be self-deceived.] Carey even calls Satan a "victim" (165). Carey says that Milton couldn't figure out a way to show how a perfect being would act imperfectly (165) [um, Adam?]—Carey says this is a "logical flaw" in Milton's narrative (166). Weird passage about Is. 14:14—Carey can't conceive of the passage as being both about the King of Babylon and Satan (165). Re: the Abdiel argument in Book 5: Carey still can't imagine that Satan could be self-deceived. 3 episodes (where Carey argues that Satan achieves depth through ambivalence) are very divisive: episode 1 (166–68): In Book 1, Satan sheds tears over the demons' appearance (opposing responses from pro-Satanist and anti-Satanist critics allegedly support Carey's claim re: Satan's ambivalence/depth). episode 2 (168–69): In Book 4, Satan sees Eve and is "Stupidly good." Does this damn him, or does it show his true (good) nature? episode 3 (169): Earlier in Book 4, Satan sees both Adam and Eve and almost loves them for their divine resemblance. Are his thoughts sincere or brutally ironic? Carey says we can't possibly know. Carey focuses on Satan's "imaginativeness," claiming that he's more imaginative than God (despite God's act of creation!) and provides Satan's lie to Eve as evidence [!]. Carey focuses on the Satan-Sin-Death episode in Book 2, trying to show that Satan's "subconscious" is difficult to assess (Satan apparently doesn't remember what Sin has to tell him about her bursting from his head). [The issue of the origin of sin is a difficult one, but Carey doesn't seem to recognize the biblical imagery of Satan as the father of lies (John 8:44) or Sin as the mother of Death (James 1:15).] Carey concludes with more about Manichaeanism, Milton's/readers' psychology, and Freud....more
Chapters 7 (Perkins by Beeke) and 9 (Goodwin by Jones) were helpful in my dissertation chapter on supralapsarianism and the felix culpa. Ch. 48 is aboChapters 7 (Perkins by Beeke) and 9 (Goodwin by Jones) were helpful in my dissertation chapter on supralapsarianism and the felix culpa. Ch. 48 is about optimism in the American colonists' eschatology....more
General Preface 5: "In one sense all critical interpretation can be regarded as foisting opinions on readers"; "hope[s] of stimulating the reader into General Preface 5: "In one sense all critical interpretation can be regarded as foisting opinions on readers"; "hope[s] of stimulating the reader into developing further his own insights"
Preface 8-11: three major difficulties in reading Paradise Lost: 1) Milton's Christian Humanism (familiarity with biblical and classical texts); 2) intense subject matter (justifying God's ways to men); 3) rich genre (epic) 12: original topic was King Arthur; original genre was drama; dictated the poem (he was blind) between 1658-63
The Beginning 13: Milton rejected rhyme for this epic 13-14: 26-line prologue 14: opening parallels other epics (e.g., Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid); first four words go against the (later-to-be-established) stress pattern 15: Mt. Horeb = Mt. Sinai; Moses is "That Shepherd" (best poets were shepherds, prophets, and priests); "In the beginning" in l. 9 (Gen. 1:1 in Moses's Pentateuch; cf. John 1:1) 18: Milton compares the creation of Paradise Lost with the actual creation; poet = maker 19: Milton has to describe Heaven and Hell in terms that humans can understand 21-22: demonic rhetoric is supposed to be attractive (it adds credibility to the story of Adam's temptation and fall); reference to Lewis's Preface 23: Satan as monstrous, yet familiar 24: question of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility 24-25: Satan as Faustian and Byronic 26: vanity of medieval chivalry/romance (Paradise Lost is better)—see pp. 27-28 27: certain kinds of virtues are possible only after the Fall; is the Fall necessary for the arts, or are the arts a way of coping with the Fall?; Huxley's Brave New World 27-28: Milton uses references/allusions to Arthur, Roland, and Orlando to show the emptiness of medieval romances, despite their many Christian qualities and codes of honor; mingling of good and evil 28: moral ambiguities (see p. 31) 29: Daiches thinks the War in Heaven (Book 6) is pointless 30: demons in conclave conjures images of treasonous Jesuits
Book II 30: Milton is skilfull in depicting evil arguments as persuasive 30-31: Satan, Moloch, Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub 32: compare Satan's offer to journey to Chaos with Christ's offering of Himself; demonic activities mirror vain human activities 34: thou va-vohu = "without form and void"; "It is ominous that we first see the earth through Satan's eyes."
Book III 34: invocation to Light; "most daring part of his epic" 35: Milton was highly conscious of his own blindness 36: "prelapsarian Eden was perpetual spring"; Fall was necessary, not because of the felix culpa, but because it led to the only kind of virtue that makes sense (conditions of struggle against sin) 37: paradox of being solitary together; foreknowledge, necessity, etc. 37-38: Milton's suspicion of rhetoric (view of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian); Christ in Paradise Regained is not rhetorical, but Satan is [cf. Herbert's Jordan poems?] 38: difference between language in Hell, Heaven, and Earth 38-39: Christ isn't the hero as much as Adam is 39: Daiches thinks that Eve and Uriel should be treated the same (innocent because of ignorance), but Uriel didn't disobey a direct command from God 40: we see Paradise first through Satan's eyes (cf. p. 34)
Book IV 41: reference to Gerard Manly Hopkins and recharging words with meaning 43: Adam's speech is not "rhetorical" like Satan's (see p. 38); paradox of knowledge: Satan tempts Adam and Eve to know more, yet they are supposed to grow in knowledge 44: Daiches seems to think that "labor" was a curse (see p. 53); Eve's love for Adam (nature is sweet, but none of it is really sweet if Eve can't be with her lover), and the parallel structure of that passage 44-45: Milton criticizes "the artificial sighings and servitudes of the courtly love tradition" 45: Milton's view of sex shows that stereotypes of English Puritans are just that: stereotypes; Milton seems sad to see Adam and Eve wake from their last peaceful sleep; Milton's use of rhetoric
Books V-VI 46: English Puritans did not like set prayers 47-48: Daiches thinks epic is inadequate for talking about the War in Heaven 48: Adam and Eve wouldn't understand Raphael's war imagery, so Milton is really talking to his readers
Books VII-VIII 48: invocations at the beginning of Books 1, 3 (light), 7 (Urania), and 9; Milton's invocations are personal 48-49: Milton's sense of isolation 49: Milton took the Genesis account literally (see p. 53) 50: Milton's problem is that he tries to be too logical (?); distinction between vain knowledge and proper knowledge; Milton/Raphael doesn't commit himself on universe theories; Adam is commanded not to dream of other worlds; Raphael doesn't know what happened when God created Adam 51: God's teasing of Adam (God's half-humorous anthropomorphism is more attractive than the serious anthropomorphic scenes in Heaven); distinction between true love and irrational passion; Milton treats different kinds of love dramatically, not so much in discussion (reference to Spenser)
Book IX 52: this is the greatest book of Paradise Lost—central scene of his tragic epic; another reference to the superiority of PL to other epics (see p. 28) 54: Eve is different when she finally returns to Adam (see p. 57) 55: Satan's eloquence shows Milton's suspicion of it (see p. 37); moral paradox and the conative theory of virtue (knowing seems necessary, and true virtue involves a struggle); Eve may have fallen by being overly trustful, but Adam fell because of love for Eve; Milton is parodying the Courtly Love tradition (see also pp. 26, 28, 52); we see the most brilliant "Sorry I'm late, but..." speech in history 56: Eve's language is different after the Fall (see p. 59) 57: "Milton's psychological insight . . . goes beyond the theological and logical boundaries of the poem" 58: both logic and rhetoric can lead astray; bad version of the felix culpa (Adam says that sin is so fun that he wishes he would have sinned earlier)
Books X-XII 58: Milton seems obsessive about defending God's wisdom and justice 59-60: changes on Earth and Hell because of the fall; Eve begins the process of recovery, and her speech is full of grace 61: stern Michael is different from affable Raphael 61-62: the story of Christ's success elicits the felix culpa from Adam—the Fall provided a world in which people could struggle meaningfully and prove self-worth
Further Reading 63: C.S. Lewis's A Preface to 'Paradise Lost' (convinced of Milton's theodicy) and William Epson's Milton's God (not convinced)...more
I read Chapter 4 (on The God of the Decree) to help me with Chapter 4 of my dissertation (on Adam's felix culpa statement in Book 12 of Milton's ParadI read Chapter 4 (on The God of the Decree) to help me with Chapter 4 of my dissertation (on Adam's felix culpa statement in Book 12 of Milton's Paradise Lost)....more
Ian McKellen plays Milton. An interesting addition is having Elizabeth Minshell Milton (Milton's third wife) play the role of an amanuensis. Weirdly, Ian McKellen plays Milton. An interesting addition is having Elizabeth Minshell Milton (Milton's third wife) play the role of an amanuensis. Weirdly, the character Satan comments outside the epic on Milton himself as a poet. Most of Raphael's narrative about the Abdiel, Creation week, and conversation with Adam is skipped (Books 5–8), as are Michael's redemptive history (Books 11–12). This is unfortunate, but common in adaptations.
CDs 1–2 (Part 1) cover the first 8 books. CD 3 (Part 2) covers the final 4 books.
Lewis writes in his preface to The Screwtape Letters that "the devil is a liar." As my advisor puts it, Fish assumes here that readers of Paradise LosLewis writes in his preface to The Screwtape Letters that "the devil is a liar." As my advisor puts it, Fish assumes here that readers of Paradise Lost won't remember that Satan is the father of lies.
Fish in Is There a Text in This Class? (p. 21): "[T]he thesis of that book [Surprised by Sin] is that Paradise Lost is a poem about how its readers came to be the way they are. It follows, I argue, that the difficulties one experiences in reading the poem are not to be lamented or discounted but are to be seen as manifestations of the legacy left to us by Adam when he fell. Milton's strategy in the poem is to make the reader self-conscious about his own performance, to force him to doubt the correctness of his responses, and to bring him to the realization that his inability to read the poem with any confidence in his own perception is its focus."
Here's W. Gardner Campbell's summary in "Temptation" in The Cambridge Companion to Paradise Lost (pp. 165–66): "The most influential solution to the problem of God's tempting his own creation [?] is offered in Stanley Fish's Surprised by Sin. Fish believes that Paradise Lost is a kind of dramatic catechism, a moral education by means of temptation not only for Adam and Eve, but also for the reader. As we read the epic, according to Fish, we ourselves are tempted by the complexities of Milton's portrayal of temptation in ways that, if we are attentive to the bedrock assertions of Milton's theology, demonstrate to us again and again the realities of [our] own fallenness. For Fish, the fact that we find Milton's temptations problematic is the most compelling evidence possible that we are fallen ourselves; and Milton has structured his poem to bring us face-to-face with that compelling evidence over and over, thus continually surprising us with the irreducible sinfulness of our own fallen sensibilities. Unlike Blake or Empson, Fish offers a remarkably consistent Milton, so consistent that Fish could confidently title an anthology of his own Milton criticism How Milton Works, a title suggesting an exhaustive and definitive answer to our many questions."
Rumrich takes aim at this work in his Milton Unbound. Peter Herman is happy to situate himself as an anti-Fish when it comes to Milton criticism. Kerrigan et al. offer a helpful summary in their introduction to Paradise Lost (somewhere around p. 280).
Nigel Smith's Is Milton Better than Shakespeare? is aimed in large part at combating Fish's claim here ("that Milton was trying to induce sinful thoughts in his readers so that he could then teach them the error of their ways" [12]) and his claim in How Milton Works ("that Milton is the apologist for an ultimately theological and contained view of life" [12]).
Ryken says in Milton's Paradise Lost, "Although not advertising itself as a Christian reading of the poem, it is the most influential Christian interpretation of Paradise Lost" (91).
Apparently, Fish: - claims in this book that the plain style of Heaven is the teaching style, whereas the grand style of Hell is deceptive (see 6–7, 61, 89). That is to say, rhetoric/eloquence is essentially sophistry, and Christians ought to prefer logic. - reverses this claim in Self-Consuming Artifacts. - comes back to this claim in How Milton Works....more
In late 2017 / early 2018, I used Sayre's structure of Platonic dialogues in my analysis of Book 8 in Milton's Paradise Lost (dissertation Chapter 4).In late 2017 / early 2018, I used Sayre's structure of Platonic dialogues in my analysis of Book 8 in Milton's Paradise Lost (dissertation Chapter 4)....more
Interesting focus on Protestant toleration and religious coercion. Tolerance is a slippery thing, so if you don't tolerate the religious coercion (perInteresting focus on Protestant toleration and religious coercion. Tolerance is a slippery thing, so if you don't tolerate the religious coercion (perceived or real) of certain groups, in what sense can you say that your own toleration is meaningful? Toleration for its own sake cannot be the end goal.
1: defamiliarization; modern reason is coercive 2: peaceful difference 3: two misunderstandings 4: did Machiavelli think fortune could be controlled? 5: authoritarian vs. indeterminate 5-6: heresy vs. apostasy 11: Hobbes; justice 12: Hobbes and unavoidable violence (14 too) 14-18: Hobbes and Calvinism 15: Milton not a pacifist, but... (132 too) 20: indirect (also 21, 73, 77, 105, 121, 123) 36: poesis (46 too) 45: memory (48 too) 57ff.: explanation of Treatise on Civil Power 60-61: faith vs. works isn't just Reformed (James 2) 61: Calvin on adiaphora 74: "triall . . . by what is contrary" 79-80: why Milton picked epic 83-86: Calvinism, tyranny, free will 87: Book 9—warrior hero 91: necessity, chance, Fate, coercion, chaos 94-96: PD is saving Milton/God from harsh criticism (Bryson, Forsyth, Herman); Arminian niceness must not be as "explicit" as Donnelly says (see 101-02) 107: accommodation (also 109, 112, 113, 121) 110: Christ doesn't sound peaceful sometimes 112: dignity of free will 119: divine power and force (Hobbes and Satan—cf. Hobbes and Calvinists) 120: Milton on monarchy; me: if the difference between tyranny and kingship is "self-gift," what makes it a kingship? (I can give stuff away, but that doesn't make me a king); self-giving doesn't constitute a sufficient definition of the essence of kingship 136: Calvinism and free will 139-41: ontology and free will 154: fall not necessary 156: prelapsarian freedom from compulsion (161 too) 157: "triall . . . by what is contrary" 163: separation scene in Book 9 is central to divine justice (Eve's free choice) 164-65: gift and counter-gift (cf. turn/return?); lead-serve paradox 174: intelligibility 208: moderation and tragedy 209: over-realized eschatology 250n22: connection to felix culpa? 219: tragedy <-- state law vs. divine law 221: regicide 222: taking something at face value instead of looking at dramatic context 240n29: Henry VIII and Lutheranism 244: see Cummings on divine justice...more