MILTON'S PARADISE LOST (4 Week Course)
Course Introduction
The theme of Paradise Lost is not primarily God, Satan, or the angels. Rather, Milton's poem is concerned above all with human society and its fate. Not only do the opening lines proclaim the subject “man’s disobedience,” but throughout this epic it is the fate of the human species that is the issue of every event in the universal creation. For many contemporary readers, this will be a worldview both alien and all too pressingly relevant. Equally relevant is Milton’s second theme: freedom. What is it and how do we recognise it? How do we misrecognise it? How do we order our relations with one another and with God so as to live it?
Course Overview
In this 4-week module we will read together key selections from Paradise Lost. Our classes will be structured around discussion of the guided reading questions, provided one week in advance. We will cover all of the above in closer detail, also covering the following key topics:
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Paradise Lost and the Epic Tradition
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Milton as Prophet
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Paradise Lost and Milton's radical theology
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Milton's view of Human Nature
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Milton's political and historical writings on the English Revolution and the sovereignty of the English People.
