Milton: Spring 2002

Milton is the last great Renaissance humanist, driven to syncretize the Greco-Roman classics with the Judeo-Christian Bible and convinced that poetry genuinely can "make something happen." He is also, with Shakespeare, the first great poet of the modern world, struggling to understand the nature of human liberty and the moral workings of the imagination. Although eventually superceded by Shakespeare, Milton was even with, or perhaps second only to, Spenser as a source of poetic authority in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Few poets have so authoritatively framed discussion the issues on which their culture is founded, or aroused such a powerful "anxiety of influence" in subsequent generations of writers.

M 14 Jan. Introduction to Milton's Poetry: Sonnets 7 (85), 18 (255), 19 (255), and 23 (259); "At a Solemn Musick" (55); "Nativity Ode" (33)

M 21 Jan. UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY

M 28 Jan. Liberty vs. License: Sonnets 11-12 (250-52); "On the New Forcers of Conscience" (264); Areopagitica (987); "L'Allegro and Il Penseroso" (65); Comus (109)

M 4 Feb. Blindness and Vision: "Lycidas" (94); Samson Agonistes (784)

M 11 Feb. Conclude discussion

M 18 Feb. EXAMINATION #1; Introduction to Paradise Lost, Opening Invocation

M 25 Feb. Paradise Lost, Books 1-2

M 4 Mar. " Books 3-4

M 11 Mar. " Books 5-6

M 18 Mar. " Books 7-8

M 25 Mar. SPRING RECESS

M 1 Apr. Paradise Lost, Books 9-10

M 8 Apr. " Books 11-12; PAPERS DUE IN CLASS

M 15 Apr. EXAMINATION #2; Papers returned and discussed

M 22 Apr. Paradise Regained, Books 1-2

M 29 Apr. " Books 3-4

M 6 May Conclude discussion of Milton; Recitations

M 13 May FINAL EXAMINATION (6-8 p.m.)

1. The final grade will be determined as follows: Examination #1 (20%), Examination #2 (20%), Final Examination (25%), Recitation (10%), and Paper (25%). Any penalty for excessive tardies or absences will be deducted from the final grade average.

2. The paper, due at the start of class on 8 April, will involve the following. For undergraduates, a 5-7 page typewritten analysis of any poem by Milton not on the syllabus used to illuminate a major theme or operation of Milton's poetic canon. For graduate students, a 10-12 page analysis of any prose work by Milton other than Areopagitica used to illuminate a major concern of Milton's canon. Undergraduate papers should make intelligent use of three secondary sources, graduate student papers of at least five. All papers should follow MLA documentation and format guidelines.

3. No student has the right to disrupt anyone else's learning process. Be on time and be prepared. Do not arrive after 6 p.m. or expect to leave before 9 p.m. You must be present the entire class period to be counted present. A student will automatically be dropped for non-attendance upon a second absence unless a prior arrangement has been reached with the instructor of which there is a written record.