English 5329.01
Milton
Wednesday 9:30-12 / 237 CLAS
Spring 2007
Professor: Greg Colón Semenza
Office: 232 CLAS
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday: 10-12; Wednesday, by appointment.
Phone: (Office) 486-4762 (Home) 456-1580
Email: semenza@uconn.edu Web: http://sp.uconn.edu/~gms02007/index.html.htm
Course Description: This course will examine all of Milton’s major poetic works and several of his prose treatises within their specific historical and literary contexts. The difficulty of reading Milton is exacerbated by the political, religious, and economic upheavals of the mid-seventeenth century. International exploration, a rapidly expanding economy, increasing religious sectarianism, and the earth-shattering execution of Charles I, among other phenomena, all contributed to the breakdown and redefinition of an older Renaissance order. Milton was, in fact, one of the most radical proponents of change in this period, and he gave expression to his ideas through his poetry as well as his polemical writings. In this class, we will attempt to reconstruct these larger contexts within which Milton was writing and consider his work in light of them. After establishing such contexts, we will be in a better position to reflect deeply on the historical reception and the general legacy—in both popular and high culture—of Milton’s writings.
Texts:
1) John Milton: Selected Prose, ed. Patrides. U Missouri P.
2) Complete Poetry of John Milton, ed. Shawcross. Anchor.
3) Milton in Popular Culture, ed. Knoppers and Semenza. Palgrave Macmillan.
4) Course Packet (CP). Provided by instructor.
Websites: http://www.richmond.edu/~creamer/milton/ (please register with Milton-L)
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/
Assignments and Requirements: Every assignment in this class is designed to achieve two goals: first, to increase your knowledge of Milton and the massive field of Milton scholarship; second, to cultivate reading, research, and writing skills that will be vital to you both as a graduate student and, should you choose to go on to a Ph.D. program, as an assistant professor. While you will receive grades on all materials that you turn in, I would prefer for a variety of reasons not to “weigh” assignments in terms of a percentage value. Your final research paper is, needless to say, the most important piece of work you will turn in, but all assignments should be approached with the same level of diligence. Assignments and their due dates are discussed below in greater detail. You are welcome, of course, to turn in most assignments early and, in some cases, it may be advisable to do so.
1) Attendance, preparation, and spirited participation
2) A twenty-minute, in-class presentation on the critical heritage of a selected text
3) A 750-word proposal of your final essay
4) A ten-page draft of your final essay
5) A 20-30-page critical essay with cover letter addressed to journal
My reflections on the graduate seminar experience (and expectations)—from choosing classes to understanding grades—are explained in detail in Chapter 4 of my book, Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities. It goes without saying that perfect attendance, active participation, and thorough preparation are mandatory (so why did I just say it?).
Critical Heritage Report: Each of you will sign up on the first day of class to review a primary work of literature, on which you’ll also most likely write your final paper. Doing so will allow you to spend most of the semester focusing on a single work or topic, which should, in turn, result in a more informed critical essay. This presentation is simply the first step of researching that paper. Prepare a comprehensive oral presentation of the major criticism written on the text or topic you choose. The point is not merely to read a list of annotations but, rather, to construct a prose narrative (or series of smaller narratives) describing the development of relevant critical discourses related to the text or topic. You may wish to focus most of your attention on recent criticism, but you are required to look much further back and to attempt to construct a historical outline of the critical heritage dating back to the seventeenth century. The report must not be longer than 20 minutes. A comprehensive, properly formatted bibliography (Chicago or MLA [I prefer Chicago, since it’s a superior format, but either is fine]) should accompany the document.
It is your job to teach yourself through your research, and the entire class through your presentation, the most important things that critics have said about the text or topic in question. Some of the questions you might consider: What do you understand to be the most important questions scholars have asked? What do you understand to be the greatest controversies surrounding the text or topic? What do you understand to be the most influential arguments scholars have made? What do you understand to be the current critical consensuses on the important issues right now? Where do you see the particular conversations about this text or topic going in the near future? We will discuss the presentation in greater detail in class.
Proposal of Final Paper Topic: A concise “sell” of your proposed final paper topic, based on a conference-paper abstract. Make sure that your argument (claim + basis) is clearly stated and situated in relation to previous critics who have written on the text/subject. Also make sure that the pay-off of your contribution is clear. 750 words equal about 2-3 double-spaced pages. We will discuss this assignment in some detail in class. Proposals are due on March 14th.
Draft of Final Paper: A ten-page, professionally written and thorough draft of your final paper. This draft, which should include a clearly-stated version of the major thesis informing your final paper, should articulate well enough what you’re planning to do to allow me to provide useful feedback in the form of a “reader’s report.” Drafts are due by email on April 4th. I would like to meet with everyone in office hours the following week to go over the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal.
Critical Essay with Cover Letter: Your goal should be to produce a potentially publishable article. While I have specified as a general guideline that the article should be 20-25 pages, reasonably longer essays can be justified. Along with the essay, please provide a professionally written cover letter on UConn letterhead. The cover letter should be addressed to an appropriate journal that you have researched and singled out for an initial submission. The essay is due by email at midnight on May 2nd.
*Note on Email Submissions of Work: In the cases of two particular assignments—the essay draft and the final critical essay—I ask that you submit your work by email. Please note that if you do not receive an email acknowledgment that I have received your paper within 8 hours from the time you submitted it, the paper was not received and is, therefore, overdue. Make sure you save the “Sent” receipt in your mail account.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Jan 17: Introduction to course; sign-up for topics; historical background on
Milton and seventeenth-century England.
Jan 24: Early Poetry & Early Life (mainly): “The Nativity Ode” (Shawcross,
63-73), “On the Death of a Fair Infant” (Shawcross, 49-52), “Methought I
Saw” (Shawcross, 246), “L’ Allegro” and “Il Penseroso” (Shawcross, 106-
116); Secondary: Fish, “What it’s Like to Read L’Allegro and Il
Penseroso” (CP); Aubrey, “John Milton” (Patrides, 409-414).
Jan 31: Milton’s Laureate Ambition: Excerpt from The Reason of Church
Government (Patrides, 49-60), “On Shakespeare” (Shawcross, 93),
“Lycidas” (Shawcross, 158-64); Secondary: Helgerson, “Introduction” and
“Milton and the Sons of Orpheus” from Self-Crowned Laureates (CP).
Feb 7: Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow-Castle (Shawcross, 124-152), Ben
Jonson, Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue (CP); Secondary: Breasted,
“Comus and the Castlehaven Scandal” (CP).
Feb 14: Radical Milton: Areopagitica (Patrides, 196-248); excerpts from De
Doctrina Christiana (Patrides, 359-397); Secondary: Wilburn, “Malcolm
X and African-American Literary Appropriations of Paradise Lost” (in
Knoppers/Semenza, 199-210).
Feb 21: Radical Milton: The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (Patrides, 249-295); Secondary: Boocker, “Milton After 9/11” (in Knoppers/Semenza, 177-186).
Feb 28: Major Poems: Old Testament: Genesis 1-4.16; Paradise Lost (Shawcross, Books 1-4); Secondary: Historicism: Bennett, “Satan and King Charles: Milton’s Royal Portraits” (CP).
March 7: Spring Break
March 14: Major Poems: Paradise Lost (Shawcross, Books 5-8); Feminism: Gilbert, “Milton’s Bogey” (CP); Webber, “Feminism and Paradise Lost” (CP).
* Assignment Due in Class: Proposal of final paper.
March 21: Major Poems: Paradise Lost (Shawcross, Books 9-12); Secondary:
Empson, excerpts from Milton’s God (CP).
March 28: Pullman 1: The Golden Compass; Secondary: Knoppers/Semenza, “Introduction,” 1-19.
April 4: Pullman 2: The Subtle Knife; Secondary: Shohet, “His Dark Materials, Paradise Lost, and the Common Reader” (in Knoppers/Semenza, 59-70).
*Assignment due in class: Draft of final paper. Email only.
April 11: Pullman 3: The Amber Spyglass; Secondary: Burt, “‘Fighting Since Time Began’: Milton and Satan in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials” (in Knoppers/Semenza, 47-57).
April 18: Major Poems: New Testament: Matthew 4-4.11; Mark 1.12; Luke 4-4.13; Paradise Regained (Shawcross, 519-572); Secondary: Loewenstein,
“The Kingdom Within: Radical Religion and Politics in Paradise Regained” (CP).
April 25: Major Poems: Old Testament: Judges 13-16; Samson Agonistes
(Shawcross, 573-620); Secondary: Carey, “A Work in Praise of
Terrorism” (CP).
May 2: Final Essays Due @ Midnight. Email only.
Presentation Schedule
January 31: “Lycidas” and/or Shorter Poetry
February 7: Comus
February 14: Areopagitica and/or Political Prose
February 21: Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and/or Political Prose
February 28: Paradise Lost (theology/theodicy)
March 14: Paradise Lost (gender and/or sexuality)
March 21: Paradise Lost (general)
March 28: Paradise Lost (reception and/or appropriation)
April 4: Paradise Lost (reception and/or appropriation)
April 18: Paradise Regained
April 25: Samson Agonistes