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ENGL 335-01, Milton, fall 2008
Newstok, Scott L.
Newstok, Scott L.
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English, Department of, Syllabus, Curriculum, Academic departments, Text, 2008 Fall
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Abstract
A study of the major poetry and selections of prose of the 17th century writer John Milton, whose
400th anniversary of his birth we will be celebrating (1608-1674). Milton's a fascinating figure who
composed in an extraordinary range of genres, including an epitaph on Shakespeare; sonnets on
historical events as well as on his own life; poems about Christ, including a dialogue with Satan; a play
about shepherds; prose treatises on divorce and governance; an influential elegy on the death of a
companion; a 'closet' drama about the biblical Samson. While we will be surveying the full range of
these genres across his learned career, we will be devoting much of our attention to Paradise Lost, the
major epic of the English language, based on the story of Genesis yet encompassing profound and still
relevant reflections on liberty, rebellion, history, providence, social hierarchies, and domestic relations
in magnificent verse. As a contemporary writer praised this undertaking: “You who read Paradise
Lost, the sublime poem of the great Milton, what do you read but the story of all things?”
As an advanced seminar in the English department, students will be expected to evaluate scholarly
resources a weekly basis; write brief but regular critical reflections on primary and secondary reading;
and complete a substantial final research project that argues for their own interpretation in dialogue
with the critical tradition within this field.
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This syllabus was submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by the course instructor.