Aims of the course:
- To introduce students to critical study of Milton’s Paradise Lost.
- To provide students with the basic historical, intellectual and literary context needed to understand and appreciate Milton’s poetry and thought.
- To bring to light some of the key things that give Paradise Lost such lasting importance and continuing capacity to inspire.
Learning outcomes:
As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to:
- Develop a critical approach to understanding Milton’s Paradise Lost.
- Assess the poem’s relationship to Milton’s wider thought and historical role.
- Evaluate the merits of some influential critical views of the poem.
Course content overview:
Course content overview:
One of the greatest of all English poets, Milton was also one of history’s great advocates of liberty. He not only dedicated his pen to the causes of democracy, free speech, and religious toleration, but risked his life in pursuit of them. However, he also saw first-hand how easily a nation’s exercise of freedom goes astray. In his renowned epic poem Paradise Lost, he does more than tell a great story in resounding language: he also sends a timeless message to posterity, that true liberty ― the kind worth taking a stand for ― means not merely freedom to pursue selfish desires, but the capacity to take moral responsibility for our choices, and by our example to help humanity rise up to its extraordinary potential for good.
The century in which Milton lived saw a deep and permanent change in the way Britain was governed ― the decisive rejection of royal absolutism and state control over religion, and the establishment in their place of such modern ideas as parliamentary sovereignty and religious toleration. But Milton himself, though a vocal proponent of these changes, did not live to see their final victory. Rather, his last years were spent under a restored monarchy, after the revolutionary nation to which he had dedicated his adult life failed to establish a viable self-government, and instead finally chose (as he saw it) to crawl back wilfully into the embrace of the regal tyranny that it had so recently and so heroically shaken off.
How to explain this apparently voluntary defeat? And how, above all, to inspire a nation once again with the ideals from which they had turned away? Only one thing remained: to return to his youthful calling as a poet, and at last to complete the great didactic poem that he had long imagined ― addressing it now not only to his contemporaries but to posterity, and instilling into it all that life and study had taught him about freedom and tyranny, and about the choice we make between them in every generation.
In Paradise Lost, Milton roots his definition and defence of true freedom in a larger moral and theological vision addressing the very nature of humanity and the purpose of human life. To understand that vision and its implications, we will need to consider his innovative and critical take on some central ideas of the Western poetic, philosophical and religious traditions, as well as his strong lived sense of humanity’s dilemma and potential dignity as a rational and passionate creature.
In Week One, we will look at Milton’s place in the momentous historical events that shook England during his lifetime, with especial attention to his famous tract in defence of free speech, religious toleration, and accountable government, the Areopagitica. From Week Two onward, we will look closely at Paradise Lost itself, progressing through the poem from start to finish, while continuing to build our understanding of key aspects of its poetic form, its subject matter, and its didactic aims.
Emphasis will be placed throughout on looking attentively at the words Milton wrote, and students will be invited to participate each week in closely reading significant passages from his major works, especially Paradise Lost. Weekly presentations and readings will provide historical and critical context, as well as initiating the close reading activities and group discussions to be pursued by the students.
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 13-19 April 2020
Teaching Weeks: 20 April-24 May 2020
Feedback Week: 25-31 May 2020
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
Terms and Conditions and ICE Fee Information and Refund Policy
