Lecture 19 - Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII << previous session | next session >>

Overview:

Books Eleven and Twelve of Paradise Lost and their radical departure from the poem's previous style are discussed. The transformation of Milton's famously sonorous verse into a more didactic mode is closely documented, and the poem's increasing emphasis on visual instruction is underscored in a study of the Archangel Michael's lesson on the history of the post-fallen world. Considerable time is devoted to both a consideration of Milton's late politics and Book Eleven's depiction of the destruction of paradise.

Reading assignment:

John Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. (Hughes):
Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII
On Christian Doctrine, pp. 982-90

Recommended: Genesis 4:11; 9

Class lecture:

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