ENGL 6290 - [Milton]

Fall or Spring. Next Offered: 2020-2021. 4 credits. Student option grading.

R. Kalas.

This course will cover Milton’s major poetry and prose, paying special attention to the forms of authority—poetic, political, and theological—that are constituted within and by these writings. From his polemical prose in defense of regicide to his poetic rewritings of scripture, Milton cleaves to a dual set of imperatives to resist illegitimate rule and to obey proper authority. Though these impulses may seem incompatible, Milton takes pains to differentiate between unsanctioned rebellion and justified dissent, between service and servility, and between action and activity. We will explore the crucial distinctions that underwrite Milton’s articulation of proper authority, while also taking account of the political and religious circumstances that informed them. And we will also look carefully at the poetic and rhetorical devices that allow Milton to distinguish paradox from contradiction.