Transcript Today’s Agenda (Wed 9.2.09)

Today’s Agenda:
 Mention homework
 Go over key points from Sir Francis Bacon & from Milton’s Areopagitica
 Connect “When I consider” to Milton’s ideas about God.
 Make this connection to convey Milton’s persona & point of view in PL.
 Introduce Paradise Lost—Milton’s great epic poem.
 Go over epic conventions and highlights of Book 1
Presentation:
 Karen Jenkins: Brief summary & points of interest Milton’s Paradise Lost--bk 9
“When I consider how my light is spent”
 The sonnet stresses mild and patient servitude in contrast to angry,
impatient ambition.
 The speaker seems to come away with these thoughts:
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Be patient
I’m not a victim
God is not against me
God asks little of me
God doesn’t need me to make it big
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Thoughts of self-aggrandizing ambition can lead to frustration
and anger. In Paradise Lost, those thoughts line the path of evil…
“When I consider how my light is spent”
 In the sonnet, Milton dramatizes how easy it can be to turn away from
his God. Were it not for patience, Milton would feel betrayed—a victim
of an unfair God who hinders the poet’s efforts to show off his talents.
 Were it not for patience, Milton might begin down a path of evil.
 The path looks like this:
 This sucks. This isn’t fair. Why is this happening to me? (I’m a victim)
 I “need” (want) A or B, but X is too hard or Y is in my way.
 I’m not supposed to C, but I don’t think things are fair.
 What else can I do? What do they expect? Screw that.
 I need to C.
 What promotes evil if not this line of thinking? Aren’t evil actions
the product of a thought process similar to the one above?
Milton’s God…
 “doth not need / Either man’s work or his own gifts.”
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The sonnet “When I consider…” stresses mild and patient servitude
in contrast to angry, impatient ambition.
 Is all knowing (omniscient) and all powerful (omnipotent).
 Leaves men and women free to interpret and make choices.
 Despite knowing they may not choose wisely.
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Areopagitica and Paradise Lost both emphasize this freedom.
Freedom to make bad choices leaves some asking why an
omnipotent God lets bad things happen. People such as Milton
suggest that humans can’t fully comprehend an omniscient God, that
some things are beyond human knowledge and control.
 Is not in the same league as lords, kings, popes, etc.
 To Milton, those are just men. Milton does not revere them as he
reveres God. He questions the authority of such men.
 Only needs to be “justified” to men in one way…
How can Milton presume to explain what he sees as the justice God?
 Good question. Because the project of Paradise Lost is so ambitious
and so presumptuous, Milton must dramatize his humility.
 In the opening, “Sing Heav’nly Muse” (6) marks his invocation of the
muse—as if divine inspiration informs Milton’s speaker.
 This is the idea—he is inspired; he doesn’t aspire.
 He invokes the muse so he “may assert Eternal Providence / And justify
the ways of God to men” (25-26).
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Milton’s going to “defend” God as if God needs a defense?
 As if God is to blame because Satan, Adam, and Eve all “fell”?
If God’s omniscience is beyond the comprehension of
humans, as Milton believed, then “justify” should be read as
“adjusting”—as presenting God in ways men can understand.
Homework:
 Read “The Restoration” (pp. 2057-2059 [middle], 2061 [middle]2062, 2070 [middle]-2071, 2074 [middle]-2075 [middle]); John
Dryden (pp. 2083-84): “Mac Flecknoe” (pp. 2112-17), “[The Art of
Satire]” pp. 2131-32, “[In Praise of Chaucer]” pp. 2132-33
 Do the Paradise Lost response question.
 Quiz Wednesday—it’s on key points/quotes on Bacon and Milton
(but it doesn’t include the bulk of Paradise Lost—only the
introductory PL information covered in pages 1830-31.)
Presentation Next Class:
Jennifer Tresenrider: Dryden’s biography (2083-84)