6. Lycidas

Milton (ENGL 220)

Milton's poem "Lycidas" is discussed as an example of pastoral elegy and one of Milton's first forays into theodicy. The poetic speaker's preoccupation with questions of immortality and reward, especially for poets and virgins, is probed. The Christian elements of the poem's dilemma are addressed, while the solution to the speaker's crisis is characterized as erotic and oddly paganistic, pointing towards the heterodox nature of much of Milton's thinking.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Revisiting Comus
07:04 - Chapter 2. "Lycidas": An Elegy
26:44 - Chapter 3. A Review of the Great Poet Orpheus
33:27 - Chapter 4. "Lycidas" and Milton's Letter to a Friend

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

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.