1. Introduction: Milton, Power, and the Power of Milton

Milton (ENGL 220)

An introduction to John Milton: man, poet, and legend. Milton's place at the center of the English literary canon is asserted, articulated, and examined through a discussion of Milton's long, complicated association with literary power. The conception of Miltonic power and its calculated use in political literature is analyzed in the feminist writings of Lady Mary Chudleigh, Mary Astell, and Virginia Woolf. Later the god-like qualities often ascribed to Miltonic authority are considered alongside Satan's excursus on the constructed nature of divine might in Paradise Lost, and the notorious character's method of analysis is shown to be a useful mode of encountering the author himself.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: Milton's Power as a Poet
15:37 - Chapter 2. Lady Mary Chudleigh on Milton and the Priority of the Sexes
19:42 - Chapter 3. Mary Astell on Milton and the Priority of the Sexes
24:03 - Chapter 4. Virginia Woolf on Milton and the Priority of the Sexes
32:20 - Chapter 5. Milton, Power and the Revolution against God by Satan

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.