Comparative Milton and Poetics

European Romantic Review, 1997

There are works of art that have been carried from the past to the present and still lead people to think and find out answers to some questions that are not easily explained. Epic poems are undoubtedly one of the most influential of these works. Epics are long poems that aim to teach humanity a lesson such as the relationship between the divine and the human being or the main qualities which establish a moral vision of life. Epics tell much more than stories. It is usually written at the end of a civilization to criticize and analyze the good and bad aspects.

The use of the Bible as a source text is a primary link between Milton’s Paradise Lost and Blake’s Milton: A Poem and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The ways in which each poet incorporates biblical elements into their writing reflect their different belief systems and reveal much about each man’s interpretation of the Bible. It is now nigh impossible to read Milton’s epic without Blake in mind and it is equally true that Blake’s poetry assumes greater meaning when read alongside Paradise Lost; I intend to explore how intertextuality between the two is particularly significant when examined in conjunction with the Bible. Milton’s aim to ‘justify the ways of God to men’ is largely based on a proportionately small section of the Bible, focusing as it does primarily on Genesis, with ‘490 lines [...] devoted to personages and happenings from the Fall to the Flood’. Blake is rather more complex, as his writing is neither uniform nor does it show a straightforward development of ideas in terms of the chronology of his poetry. The poets’ responses to the Bible – and by extension Blake’s response to Milton – can be seen in their depictions of Satan, both regarding his individual character and his influence on mankind as professed ‘Tempter’. Both writers tell the Christian creation story and the subsequent Fall differently, with the poets producing unique work which is reliant on the Bible and a number of other texts as inspiration and influence, but which nonetheless is written in their own distinct voice. Milton’s poem takes crucial elements from the Bible in order to expand, reinterpret or rewrite them and Blake’s poetry recreates religious experiences, his narratives notably containing frequent references not only to the Bible, but also to Paradise Lost.

2013

Prichard, Saurat insists on Milton's first-hand knowledge of patristic sources. After outlining Milton's Pauline legacy 4 , Saurat traces the development of the poet's attitude towards the Fathers. Initially regarded as the shield behind which his adversaries hid themselves, they became increasingly familiar and even his own allies, whenever they were 'pour lui.' Within this frame, Augustine stands out as 'le plus considéré, le plus étudié, le plus souvent invoqué, celui qui a le plus de poids lorsqu'il est favourable aux idées miltoniennes, celui qui est combattu avec le plus de labour et énergie quand c'est nécessaire.' 5 The practice of adorning one's writing with the feathers of the early Christian writers had a notable precedent in Calvin himself. Calvin's use of the Fathers, Augustine in the first place, is paradigmatic. 6 And it is well known that, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Augustine was laid on Procrustes' bed and pulled by 'papists' and reformers of any denomination towards their respective ends. 7 A fixed point in this tentative research is the central position that the Christian philosopher held in the post-Reformation scenario. But the context within which Milton looks at Augustine presents a multi-faceted 'Augustinanism' which still needs to be mapped. 8 1.2 Milton's Augustine in context The 16 th and 17 th centuries saw different editions of the complete works of Augustine, as well as translations into English of parts of his works. The beginning of the sixteenth century saw the 4 In his prose, from Areopagitica to De Doctrina Christiana, Milton often speaks in persona Pauli. And the proem of Paradise Lost is based on Romans 5 ff-the text that has finalized, through Augustine's extensive commentaries, the Christian doctrine of fall and redemption. Also in his recourse to the auctoritas of Paul, the poet follows Augustine, who constantly refers to 'the Apostle' as the ultimate source for interpretation of the Scriptures. For a discussion of Pauline issues that were handed down to Augustine and have a bearing on Milton's work (p. below),

Poetry, irrespective of its language, culture, land, is basically Philosophy which introduces us early to life and gives us the pleasurable instruction in reference to character, emotion and action. The excellence of a poet is bound up with that of a human being. The two poets taken for study namely John Milton from English literature and Bammera Pothana from Sanskrit literature belong to two different cultures, languages and regions. But their works of art, grand Epics, "Paradise Lost" and "Bhagavat" respectively represent the kindred throb of the human heart which because human is neither Indian nor European. Milton's Paradise Lost has the loftiest theme, "to assert external providence and justify the ways of god to men. The Epic Bhagavat depicts the earnestness of King Parikshit to attain Moksha in seven days since he is aware of his own destined day. Purity of mind and concentration are the prime qualities of a Yoga or seeker of God. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent as is viewed by both Milton and Pothana. A deeper study of these two Epics would be beneficial to the present society in reinforcing the moral values which are steeply decreasing. The younger generation in the East and the West due to the impact of films and television develop negative attitude towards life resulting in the attempts of suicides and they are standing directionless. The study helps mankind to develop an ideal and positive attitude towards life. In this materialistic World, a spiritual bent of mind is essential to face the challenges of life.

Milton Quarterly, 2016

RICHARD STRIER Dr. Johnson was surely wrong that no one ever wished Paradise Lost longer. Many readers, including myself, and probably Gordon Teskey, have done so. Teskey's book on Milton is a big one. Few readers would wish it longer, but the question is whether its length is justified. I do not think that it is, even given the ambition of covering all of Milton's poetry. Books covering Milton's whole oeuvre, including the volumes of prose that far outweigh the poetry, have not been as long (one thinks, preeminently, of Tillyard's Milton, or of the even shorter overview of David Daiches). If Teskey's book worked in detail with the poetry, that might justify its length-anyone who has done detailed explication knows how many pages such work consumes-but Teskey does not, for the most part, do such. Although the book does include some interpretive analysis, its basic modes are generalization and appreciative description. This might make it a book aimed at students-it reads, in many ways, like a series of well-oiled undergraduate lectures-but it is hard to imagine an undergraduate making her way through it. And while undergraduates might be charmed by the author confessing that he is "a little bored by discussions of Satan as a problem" almost as much as he is "with discussions of the frigidity, or the wickedness, or the goodness of Milton's God" (xiii), scholars and critics who are deeply interested in these matters might not be so charmed, and might think such nonchalance merely irresponsible. Similarly, the lack of engagement with existing criticism and scholarship, while certainly not total, is more likely to commend itself to students or general readers than to scholars and critics working in the field. Perhaps the curious and patient adult general reader is the target, which, I suppose, is fair enough. The Introduction is quite promising. It presents Milton as "a traditionalist in aesthetics and a radical in politics" (1), though Teskey will modify the first in a serious way by arguing that in some contexts (the Restoration), "traditionalist" aesthetics could themselves be radical (see 401-03). It recognizes the strangeness of Paradise Regained, with its presentation of the temptation in the desert rather than the Crucifixion as Jesus's key redemptive act. Teskey somewhat demurely notes that "Humility and charity are perhaps not among the Christian virtues most saliently exhibited by Milton," and that Milton was not "particularly moved" by "the two most important images of Christianity, which are images of helplessness. .. the infant in its mother's arms and the naked man hanging on the cross" (9). This is all helpfully on target, if rather tentatively expressed. Teskey even and quite bravely, takes on the issue of whether Milton actually believed that there was an Adam and an Eve, etc. His answer to this is a bit tricky-he wants to defend Milton as both a literalist and a fabulist. This trick can perhaps be done, though it 189

Milton Quarterly, 2012

To get a proper sense of Milton in the English revolution we need to look not only at his work during the revolutionary period, but also at his early writings in the pre-revolutionary years, and at the mature works produced after the restoration. For years now the blandly disseminated view of the pre-revolutionary decades of the early seventeenth century has held that the works of English literature of those years belong to a non-political world. It was a depoliticization made possible by an unawareness of the extent and effects of censorship, and a consequent refusal to decode political meanings from the literary texts. But the revolution did not suddenly appear from nowhere. And if we look at Milton's poetry of the 1630s we can see evidence of the social tensions, and unmistakable assertions of revolutionary sentiments.

2015

Literary scholars have recently shown renewed interest in John Milton's unconventional religious and political thought. Milton was at odds with the dominant Protestant theology of his day. He believed that humans had free will, thus rejecting the central Calvinist doctrine that God predestined men for salvation or damnation. He also rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, claiming that Christ was not equal with God the Father, but rather a subordinate being. These departures from Protestant thought have considerable impact upon Milton's major poems, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. While scholars have explored the role of Milton's heretical thought, this study investigates how biblical typology deepens and augments the unorthodox nature of Milton's works.

From the review: 'Milton studies continues to be populated by a wide variety of Miltons, and in Hammond’s and Greteman’s volumes we have gained two more. Milton and the People presents itself as a somewhat polemical corrective to those critics—Greteman included—who refuse to conceive of the poet and polemicist abandoning radical political hopes in his later years. Hammond’s etymological focus does, however, make for salutary reading: Milton’s poly-lingual mastery is a crucial subject with a frontier that is still being explored. Poetics and Politics of Youth in Milton’s England, by contrast, has insight to offer for Miltonists, scholars of theatrical culture, and political historians of Early Modern England alike. The image of Milton as a ‘heroic’ educator working in the face of political reaction is one to which those working in higher education—and, indeed, education more generally—will no doubt warm.'