ENGL 220: Milton

Lecture 4 - Poetry and Virginity << previous session | next session >>

Overview:

Milton's first publication, A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, is examined. Milton's vision of a poet's heaven in Ad Patrem, paired with the letter to Charles Diodati, with its particular emphasis on the need for chastity in poets, is used as a springboard to a discussion of the depiction of sexual ideals in the masque. Revelation 14, 1 Corinthians, and the Apology for Smectymnuus are also discussed at length, as are the poet's biography and the history of the masque's title.

Reading assignment:

John Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. (Hughes):
Comus (A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle) (1634-37), pp. 86-114
L'Allegro and Il Penseroso (1631), pp. 65-77
"On Shakespeare" (1630), pp. 60-62
An Apology for Smectymnuus (1642), pp. 690-95
Sonnet IX: "Lady that in the prime" (1643), p. 141
Prolusion VI, pp. 612-21

Bible: Revelation 14:1-5

Class lecture:

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Handout: Poetry and Virginity [PDF]