第四讲 John Milton.pptVIP

* John Milton (1608 - 1674) I. Puritanism 1. Strictly religious: a radical sect of the Protestant reformers – * opposing the complicated highly decorated rituals of the Catholic church and advocating the simplification of the rituals; * emphasizing the supreme status of the Bible and man’s own ability to communicate with God, opposing the bishops in prayer and what they think is superstitious, e.g. idols, holy objects; * popular in the lower-middle class craftsmen businessmen; * lacking freedom in their religious beliefs or to enter the Anglican church during the Restoration period; * allowed to enter the Parliament in 1829. 2. A broader sense of a whole way of life * strict obedience to the dictates of conscience strong emphasis of the virtue of self- denial; * generally thought to be hostile to art – opponents to theatre in Elizabethan period (theatres then were scenes of moral licentiousness disorder) confusing fiction with lying– e.g. Bunyan was criticized for writing fiction in his allegory, Defoe faced similar charge; * encouraging practical attitude to worldly affairs holding contempt for culture – “philistinism” in the 18th 19th centuries (when religion slackens as the driving force, the practical virtues came to be regarded as the principal ones). II. John Milton 1. Milton’s life * born into a rich literary Puritan family and educated at Cambridge; * following Cromwell during the Civil War appointed in 1649 the Latin Secretary to the State of Council; * becoming blind in 1651 devoted to literary work after the Restoration. 2. Milton’s works 3 periods: a. (~ 1641) son of the humanists Elizabethans – “Lycidas”, a pastoral elegy on the death of a college mate, Edward King; b. (1641- 1654) pamphleteering for the Puritan cause – “the Reason of Church