POETRY-1 (ENG403) LECTURE – 15

THE PURITAN AGE JOHN MILTON

POLITICAL BACKGROUND (1) Queen Elizabeth James 1 ( ) Scottland Patriotic unity People resented taxes, alliance withSpain 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 o Royalists/Cavaliers/Catholics o Parliamentary Forces/Puritans Sentenced to death in 1649 The Common Wealth ( ) 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 ( ) o Famous work is “Christ victore, Triumph, Earth over & after death. Phineas Fletcher ( ) 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( ) 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, 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 ( ) ‘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 L’ Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, Lycidas Travelled to Italy & France (1630s) 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 children Civil War: Oliver Cromwell & Charles 1 20 year: no poetic work Puritan: a series of Pamphlets/Civil rights During Civil War in ; 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, Third Period

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