John Milton (1608-1674)

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Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,
Margaret Layton © 2016
 John Milton

1. Milton’s life

• Born in London into a wealthy Puritan family in 1608.

• He learnt Latin, Greek and Italian.

• After a European tour, he supported Cromwell and his policy.

• He was made secretary for foreign tongues in the Council of State.

• He lost his sight and a period of personal defeat and disillusionment

started.
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• He died in London in 1674.

 John Milton

2. Milton’s works

1st period:
• the poems L’allegro and Il Penseroso (1631);
• Lycidas, a pastoral elegy (1637).

2nd period:
• Areopagitica, a pamphlet (1644);
• prose propaganda.

3rd period:
• Paradise Lost (1667);
• Paradise Regained (1671);
• Samson Agonistes (1671).
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 John Milton

3. Paradise Lost: the plot

God casts Satan

into Hell.

Satan’s rebellion He turns into a

against God. snake.

Adam and Eve live The serpent gets

Eve to eat the
in the Garden of So Adam and Eve
forbidden fruit.
fall from grace.
Eden happily. Adam does the
same.

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 John Milton

4. Paradise Lost: the setting

• Heaven, Hell, the firmament (Chaos) and Earth.

Ptolemaic design (also

called the geocentric design)
• Milton’s Solar System
rather than the Copernican
design (also called the
heliocentric design).

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 John Milton

5. Paradise Lost: the sources

• Type of work religious epic poem.

• Sources:

• Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey;

• Virgil’s Aeneid;
• the Bible’s Book of Genesis.

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 John Milton

6. Themes

• Main theme the hope for redemption and the belief in Divine
Providence.

• Secondary themes
• Pride it leads to Satan’s downfall;
• Envy coming from Satan’s pride;
• Revenge it makes Satan tempt Adam and Eve;
• Infidelity Adam betrays God by siding with Eve;
• Disobedience Adam and Eve disobey God;
• Repentance Adam and Eve repent;
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• Redemption Man is granted eternal salvation thanks to
 John Milton

7. Main characters

• God the Father, God the Son.

• Satan, the powerful, proud angel who led an

unsuccessful rebellion against God.

• Adam and Eve, the first human beings.

William Blake, Satan arousing
• Gabrie and Raphael, angels on the side of God. the Rebel Angels, 1808.

• Beelzebub and other rebellious angels, leaders

in Satan’s army.

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 John Milton

8. The epic conventions

• The invocation to the muse.

• Beginning of the story in medias res.

• Telling a story with which the readers are familiar with they
know the characters, the plot, the development and the end of the
story.

• Conflict in the celestial realm.

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 John Milton

9. Style

• Elevated, perfectly suited to the epic genre and to the theme.

• Use of blank verse.

• Extensive use of enjambments.

• Use of polysyllabic Latinisms, inversions.

• Antithesis of light / darkness to depict Heaven and Hell.

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10. Satan in Milton and Dante

Milton’s Satan Dante’s Satan

Symbol God’s eternal Punishment

justice

Appearance At first he is a Monster:

fallen angel; three-headed
then he takes the winged creature
form of a snake
Dwelling Hell, below The City of Dis,
Chaos the lowest circle
of Hell

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