Class Recap 10/5

We began with a presentation from Jason, who first considered the question of Milton's Puritanism, concluding that the answer depends on whether Puritanism is understood as primarily political or primarily theological. Jason then led a discussion about the representation of Satan in Paradise Lost, exploring the reasons that Satan might seem like a sympathetic or heroic figure. There followed a more general class discussion about Evans' Milton's Imperial Epic, with the class somewhat divided on the full validity of Evans' reading.

Next Ben gave a presentation on Milton's use of the Bible and on the sometimes difficult to determine line between interpretation and poetic creation. He discussed the Biblical origins of the phrase "darkness visible" (PL 1.63), Milton's Biblical analogues in Isaiah and Ezekiel for the depicting the cause of Satan's rebellion, and the book of Job as a model for the council scene in Book 2.

After the break we read aloud 3.1-55 and 4.32-113. (Keep both these passages in mind as the semester continues - we will come back to them as we read some of the American writings.) We discussed the former passage in terms of Milton's sense of narratorial involvement in Satan's story, and also considered the image of inward "planted eyes" as both a metaphorization and an internalization of vision. We talked about Satan's soliloquy as a version of Puritan self-examination. (This passage was also a topic of conversation during Jason's presentation on the portrayal of Satan.) We noted how these two passages parallel each other, both being addresses to light or the sun; Satan's "lower deeps" are a perversely reproductive version of the epic Bard's creative internal vision.

We also spent some time comparing Milton's portrayal of God with his portrayal of Satan. I suggested that an artistic problem for Milton is that God must be wholly disembodied, whereas Satan is not only embodied, but defined by his embodiment. ("Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell.") Though I didn't note this at the time, the topic of Milton's artistic challenges and motivations returns to the issues Ben raised in his presentation: how does the poet allow the Bible to speak through him and create something new at the same time?

In the final ten minutes of class we considered the historical moment in which John Cotton (1584-1652) preached his sermon "God's Promise to His Plantations" (1630), clarified the sermon's message (i.e., its thesis), and examined how Cotton's sermon contained several intellectual and theological concepts found in Paradise Lost.