POETRY1 ENG 403 LECTURE 15 THE PURITAN AGE

POETRY-1 (ENG 403) LECTURE – 15

THE PURITAN AGE JOHN MILTON

POLITICAL BACKGROUND (1) • • Queen Elizabeth- 1603 James 1 (1603 - 1625) Scottland Patriotic unity People resented taxes, alliance with. Spain Middle Class clashed with monarchy Dissolved 3 parliaments (1604, 1614, 1621) Imposition of customs, money grants, right of speech

POLITICAL BACKGROUND (2) • • Charles 1 Popular Deceitfulness & wrong headedness Henriietta Maria/ France Buckingham as Lord Chancellor Gave in the petition of civil rights (1628) No taxation/imprisonment/billeting 11 years

POLITICAL BACKGROUND (3) • Archbishops punished Puritans • Civil war 1642 - 1648 o Royalists/Cavaliers/Catholics o Parliamentary Forces/Puritans • Sentenced to death in 1649 • The Common Wealth (1649 - 1653) o Scotland proclaimed Charles II • Cromwell took step & succeeded in 1651 • Parliament/dissolved

POLITICAL BACKGROUND (4) • • • Cromwell/Lord Protector Strong foreign policy Monarchy by 1658 He died in 1658 Restored monarchy under Charles ll

SOCIAL BACKGROUND o Horse racing o Bear baiting o The sport of the cock-pit o Theatrical performance

• SOCIAL BACKGROUND/ THE PURITANS Puritans for King & Court were a symbol of o Spiritual pride o Hypocrisy o Rebellion o Tyranny • The Typical Puritan o High ideals o Tolerant of differences of Opinion o Its spirit was a noble force o it saved England's national ideals o Encouraged the pilgrim fathers

GREATEST WRITERS • ENGLISH WRITERS • John Milton • Bunyan • OTHER FIELDS • Bacon in Philosophy • W. Harvey in medical science • John Napier in mathematics • Inigo Jones in architecture

LITERATURE OF THE PURITAN AGE • • • Relaxing in vigor/ Transition exuberant gaiety & imaginative freedom artificial cheer , philosophic melancholy & sobriety Temperament changed Less originality in poetry of thought & emotions Correctness of form Intellectual play of fancy Fashionably short Affected language Triviality of subject matter

THE SCHOOL OF SPENCER • Giles Fletcher (1583 -1623) o Famous work is “Christ victore, Triumph, Earth over & after death. • Phineas Fletcher (1542 -1648) o wrote many Spenserian pastorals & allegories. Famous work is “The Purple Island” • William Browne • George Wither

THE METAPHYSICAL SCHOOL • John Donne o Love songs, hymns, elegies, holy sonnets • George Herbert • Richard Crashaw • Henry Vaughan The characteristics of poetry were as follows: o Far fetched ideas. o Full of logic & reasoning. o Heterogeneous ideas are combined. o Theme like love is experimented like science.

THE CAVALIER POETS • • Herrick Robert Richard Lovelace Sir John Suckling Thomas Carew. o Followers of Ben Johnson o The Cavalier means (Royalist who fought on the side of the king during the civil war). o Pseudo classicist. They only followed Ben in rules & regulation

JOHN MILTON(1608 -1674) • Milton was a Prominent writer in the Puritan Age. • Combines the spirit of Renaissance & Reformation. • Musical versification, spirit of freedom & morality in his poetry. • A great scholar of Hebrew language • Early poetry. Sonnets & hymns

JOHN MILTON (1) • English poet, pamphleteer, and historian • Considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare • Born in London on December 9, 1608 • 2 nd son of John & Sara • Wealthy family; second house • Law-writer/scrivener; composed music • Went to St. Paul’s school in 1620 • Christ’s College, Cambridge (1625 -1632) • ‘The Lady of Christ’ for his features

JOHN MILTON (2) • • • B. A in 1629 M. A in 1632 Gave up his plan to be a priest Wrote poetry in Latin, Italian & English Spent 6 years in country home 1632 -1638 L’ Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, Lycidas Travelled to Italy & France (1630 s) Met Hugo Grotius & Galileo Galilei References in Paradise Lost Moved to Horton, Buchinghamshire

JOHN MILTON (3) • • • Back to London (1639) Set up a school with his nephews Marriage to Mary Powell (1642) Came back in 1645 4 children Civil War: Oliver Cromwell & Charles 1 20 year: no poetic work Puritan: a series of Pamphlets/Civil rights During Civil War in 1642 -1649; a Latin secretary to Cromwell.

JOHN MILTON (4) • • • Gave up teaching in 1647 The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) Common wealth Government/Foreign sec. Milton became completely blind. (1651) Cromwell’s death; Friendless His wife & daughter turned against him His wife died (1652) Marriage to Katherine woodcock (1656) She died in 1658

JOHN MILTON (5) • • Restoration changed his fortune He was arrested/fined Marriage to Elizabeth Minshull (1663) Milton wrote his greatest poetical works Paradise lost, Paradise Regained & Samson Agonistes. Married thrice; unhappy marital life Died, November 8, 1674 St. Giles Buckinghamshire Buried beside his father. Teeth and hair were robbed.

MILTON’S WORKS • First Period till 1640 • Second Period, 1640 -1660 • Third Period 1660 -1674

FIRST PERIOD • Major Poems o L’ Allegro o Il Penseroso o Comus o Arcades o Lycidas • Minor poems

SECOND PERIOD • Prose o Anti- Prelatical Tracts o Divorce Tracts o Educational Pamphlets o Political Controversial Works § Civil Rights • Poetry o Sonnets

THIRD PERIOD • Paradise Lost • Paradise Regain’d • Samson Agonistes

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS WORKS • • Master of English Blank Verse Cosmic Sweep of Theme Sublimity of Execution Sharp concreteness Intensity of Religious Idealism Full of Classical Allusions to Literature Profound Scholarship Organ-roll of linked Vowel Sounds

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS WORKS • • • Power of delineating character Vivid accurate description Presentation of Nature Simple, sensuous and Passionate His rule of Poetry

THE PARADISE LOST • Printed in 1667; 10 books • Printed in 1674; 12 books His ambition: write an epic o Vacation Exercise o Lycidas o Epitaphium Damonis

LITERARY SOURCES • • • Scriptual & Talmudic writings The Illiad, Oddyssey & Aeneid St. Augustine’s Civitas Deis Claudian’s De Raptu Proserpine Vondel’s Lucifer Caedman Shakespeare Marlowe Giles Fletcher Phineas Fletcher

DOCTRINAL CONTENT • • The Creation of World is Purposeful. Christ is the son of God but second to him. Absolute Freedom/Human will Epitome: belief in Reformed Catholicism

COSMOGRAPHY • • Copernican system Ptolemaic system Plato, Dante & Aquinas Better represented his poetry

METER • Blank verse o Heroic Verse without Rhyme

ARGUMENT • The Fall of Satan & his angels; the burning lake of Hell; the palace Pandemonium • In each book one aspect is described in detail. Book Vll and book X is divided into two parts

REVIEW OF LECTURE 15 • • • The Puritan Age Political and Social background Notable Writers John Milton His Literary Career The Paradise Lost Literary Sources Meter Argument