1、John Milton (1608-1674),I. Life and Career,1. Period of education and apprenticeship Study first at St. Pauls school, then at Cambridge Read widely Practice poetic skills Travel over the continent,2. Period of prose and controversy (1) Political essays Defending the course of revolution (2) Essays o
2、n liberty Religious liberty, domestic liberty, civil liberty, and freedom of speech (3) Latin Secretary to Cromwell,Milton is dictating his poem,3. Period of retirement, poverty, neglect and loneliness, but also of lofty inspiration and splendid achievements Became matured, embittered, and completel
3、y blind Wrote his great works by shaping them in his mind and then dictating them to his daughters,II. Literary Achievements,1. Short poems: “LAllegro” and “Il Penseroso”; Lycidas (1637) 2. Prose work: Areopagitica (1644) 3. Long poems: Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and Samson Agon
4、istes (1671),III. Points of View,1.Politically, Milton championed liberty and fought against authority throughout his career. He believed that power corrupts human beings and distrusted anyone who could claim power over anyone else. He believed in a strict social and political hierarchy in which peo
5、ple would obey their leaders and the leaders would serve their people.,2. Religiously, Milton advocated the complete abolishment of all church establishments. He believed that each individual Christian should be his own church, unencumbered by an establishment. He felt that the conscience of the ind
6、ividual was a more powerful tool than the church in interpreting the Word of God.,3. Miltons views on marriage were considered shocking and heretical. In his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, he argues that the main purpose of marriage is not necessarily procreation, but the joining of two people
7、into one unified being. He felt that conversation and mental companionship were supremely important in a marriage.,IV. Paradise Lost,1. Characteristics of Epic Great hero Vast setting Action of great deeds Supernatural forces Grand style Objectivity,2. The throne of God There are 7 angels who stand
8、at the throne of God. Michael-Gabriel Raphael Uriel Suriel Zachareal Sachiel,Angel,Archangel,3. Hierarchy of Angels Seraphimangels closest to God Cherubimangels voicing divine wisdom Thronesangels of peace Dominionsangels regulating the duties of other angels,Virtuesangels in charge of nature Powers
9、angels fighting against evil Principalitiesangels watching over the mortal world Archangelsangels ministering to humans Angelsangels closest to humans,4. The plan of Paradise Lost 12 books in the Homeric style To produce a Christian epic which should rank with the great epics of antiquity and with t
10、hose of the Italian Renaissance. To justify the ways of God to men To express spiritual ideas through the medium of the secular epic, with its battles and councils and all the forms of physical life,5. Story Rebellion in Heaven The creation of man Mans disobedience Mans loss of Paradise 6. Major the
11、mes The fall of man First Satan falls, then man falls. Freedom and choice Adam falls by consciously choosing human love rather than obeying God.,Expulsion,7. Structure Book I: Fallen life in Hell Book XII: Fallen life on Earth Book II: Fallen life in Hell Book XI: Fallen life on Earth Book III: Heav
12、en/Satan; Book X: Heaven/Satan Book IV: Garden of Eden Book IX: Garden of Eden Book V: Raphaels Narration Book VIII: Raphaels Narration Book VI: Raphaels Narration Book VII: Raphaels Narration,Book I General introduction, Satan recovers from the Fall Book II Satan begins his journey through chaos to
13、 the world Book III Satans arrives on earth; God prophecies mans disobedience Book IV Satan views Adam and Eve and tempts her in a dream Book V Eves Dream; Raphael comes to warn them, tells of the war in heaven Book VI Raphael completes the war story and tells of victory by the Son,Book VII Raphael
14、tells of the creation of the world and man Book VIII Adam tells his own story; Raphael again cautions him Book IX Satan succeeds in tempting Eve, and she corrupts Adam Book X Divine retribution; Adam and Eves remorse and reconciliation Book XI The Sons intercession, Gods decision, Michaels prophecie
15、s Book XII Michaels prophecies, continued, and the final expulsion,Time arrangement Fall of the angels (13 days) Creation of the world (7days) Fall of Man (13 days),War in Heaven,Lucifer,Satan,Satans Fall,8. Character Analysis Satan (Lucifer) (1) He has strength, the courage, and the capacity for le
16、adership (2) Satans defiance of God,“To do aught good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our sole delight, As being the contrary to his high will Whom we resist. If then his providence Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, Our labor must be to pervert that end, And out of good still to f
17、ind means of evil.”,(3) His egoistic pride, his false conception of freedom, and his alienation from all good; (4) His unconquerable will “What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield: And what is el
18、se not to be overcome?” (5) His despairing consciousness of his own evil and damnation,Road to Heaven,9. Special features (1) Rich classical (Biblical and mythological) references (2) subjects war, love, hatred, religion, Heaven and Hell,(3) Language Latinate syntax and diction His freedom in the placing of phrases and clauses His use of economy, contrast, suspension Historical and mythological allusions The use of specific geographical names and epic similes,
