The Metaphysical
Period
17 century
th
Metaphysical concerns are the common
subject of their poetry, which investigates
the world by rational discussion of its
phenomena rather than by intuition or
mysticism.
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaintro.htm
Reacting against the deliberately smooth
and sweet tones of much 16th-century
verse, the metaphysical poets adopted a
style that is energetic, uneven, and
rigorous. (Johnson decried its roughness
and violation of decorum, the deliberate
mixture of different styles.) It has also
been labelled the 'poetry of strong lines'.
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/metaintro.htm
AP terms
Define and categorize
Word, Style, Form, or Technique
Irony
Pun
Couplet
Novel
Epigram
Feminist
Metaphor
Dialect
Alliteration
Repetition
Epic poem
Lyric poem
Conceit
Denotation
Diction
Proverb
Sonnet
Mood
Paradox
Simile
Personification
Tone
Flashback
Satire
Rhyme
Antithesis
Colloquial
Controlling image
Anecdote
Rhyme scheme
John Milton
John Milton was born in
London. His mother
Sarah Jeffrey, a very
religious person, was
the daughter of a
merchant sailor. His
father, also named
John, had risen to
prosperity as a
scrivener or law writer he also composed
music.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jmilton.htm
At the age of twelve Milton was admitted
to St Paul's School near his home and five
years later he entered Christ's College,
Cambridge. During this period, while
considering himself destined for the
ministry, he began to write poetry in Latin,
Italian, and English.
In 1651 Milton became blind, but like
Jorge Luis Borges centuries later,
blindness helped him to stimulate his
verbal richness. "He sacrificed his sight,
and then he remembered his first desire,
that of being a poet," Borges wrote in one
of his lectures. One of his assistants was
the poet and satirist Andrew Marvell
(1621-78), who spoke for him in
Parliament, when his political opinions
arouse much controversy.
After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660,
Milton was arrested as a noted defender of
the Commonwealth, but was soon
released. Milton paid a massive fine for his
opposition. Besides public burning of
EIKONKLASTES (1649) and the first
DEFENSIO (1651) in Paris and Toulouse,
Milton escaped from more punishment
after Restoration, but he became a
relatively poor man. The manuscript of
Paradise Lost he sold for £5 to Samuel
Simmons, and was promised another £5 if
the first edition of 1,300 copies sold out.
The poem tells a biblical
story of Adam and Eve,
with God, and Lucifer
(Satan), who is thrown
out of Heaven to corrupt
humankind. Satan, the
most beautiful of the
angels, is at his most
impressive: he wakes up,
on a burning lake in Hell,
to find himself
surrounded by his
stunned followers. He
has been defeated in the
War of Heaven.
The theme of Fall and
expulsion from Eden in
Paradise Lost had been in
Milton's mind from 1640s.
His ambition was to
compose an epic poem to
rival the works of ancient
writers, such as Homer
and Virgil, whose grand
vision in Aeneid left traced
in his poem.
Paradise Lost
Milton created a powerful and sympathetic
portrait of Lucifer. His character bears
similarities with Shakespeare's herovillains Iago and Macbeth, whose
intellectual nihilism is transformed into
metaphysical drama.
Some critics have a problem with Lucifer
being connected with heroes.
Paradise Lost
Milton's view influenced deeply Romantic
poets William Blake and Percy Bysshe
Shelley, who saw Satan as the real hero of
the poem and a rebel against the tyranny
of Heaven.
Paradise Lost
Many other works of art have been
inspired by Paradise Lost, among
them Joseph Haydn's oratorio The
Creation, Alexander Pope's The
Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad,
John Keat's poem Endymion, Lord
Byron's The Vision of Judgment,
satanic Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien's
saga The Lord of the Rings.
Structure
Epic
begins with an invocation
The story continues in medias res (in the
middle of the story)
-just like Beowulf
high, lofty language
-just like Beowulf
Purpose of PL
• Milton wrote Paradise Lost not long after
the civil war in England.
– Could have been written to explain the
suffering or to give meaning to the suffering
after the war.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_r
oom/pl/book_1/index.shtml
Invocation (lines 1 – 26)
On whom does Milton call to help him tell
the story?
What does Milton say he wants to
explain first?
What caused Adam and Eve to fall from
grace and break God’s command.
Satan
How is Satan described?
Direct or indirect characterization?
Summarize the story of Adam and Eve as
Milton tells it.
How is the fall of Adam and Eve connected
to the fall of Satan and his league of
demons?
Hell (lines 60 – 77)
How is it described?
Who is Beelzebub?
What does Beelzebub say to Satan? (line 84 - )
What is Satan’s reaction to his fall into Hell?
(lines 94-99)
What do they plan to do?
Evil
Stubborn
Vengeful
Spiteful
How is this portrayed in lines 125 – 155?
Anti-/Heroic qualities of Satan
Physical description of Satan
Symbolism of chains
God’s hold on Satan?
Hatred?
Lack of ambition?
Word, style, form, and technique
Word
syntax – “..but rather darkness visible”
diction – descriptions of Hell, Satan, etc.
Style
sentence structure
long supporting clauses
shorter main clauses
Form
epic
high language
invocation
in medias res
Technique
indirect characterization
allusion
comparing Satan to creatures from
other literary works
Sonnets of Milton
Analyze using list of AP terms
Satire so far…
Gulliver’s Travels
Political satire
Tories and Whigs
Protestants and Catholics
Warfare
Science and Technology
Societal satire
Human nature
Satire so far…
Animal Farm
Political satire
Stalin
Trotsky
Communism
Karl Marx
Modernization/Industrialization
Satire so far…
Paradise Lost
Religious/societal satire
Sufferings of war
Fall of man
Defeat of the establishment
Righteousness of a higher power
Is satire always funny?
Remember the definition of satire:
writing that exposes or finds fault
Sometime funny – sometimes not
Imagine that you would always have
someone in your life at your beck and call.
In a journal entry or informal essay,
describe all the things that you would
expect this person to do for you.
http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/miller5/chapter8/custom3/deluxecontent.html
“I Want a Wife”
Prentice Hall
White - 395
As you read….
Brady uses a sarcastic, or even bitter, tone to
highlight how unfair she thinks the roles of wives
are. Discuss what you think might have led her
to this sarcasm or bitterness. Be imaginative,
and use clues from the essay to help you shape
your story.
As you read….
Brady uses a sarcastic, or even bitter, tone to highlight
how unfair she thinks the roles of wives are. Discuss
what you think might have led her to this sarcasm or
bitterness. Be imaginative, and use clues from the essay
to help you shape your story.
Subject and Purpose
Is Brady being fair? Justify.
Why did she write this?
Word
Style
Form
Technique
“What’s In Your Toothpaste?
Prentice Hall
White - 183
As you read….
Did you know some or all of the
ingredients? Were you surprised or
shocked by what ingredients are actually
in toothpaste? Are you now going to try to
find a more "natural" toothpaste?
Bodanis' description is intentionally shocking-linking the ingredients to substances that we
would never consider putting in our mouths.
Divide into three groups.
Group A: Chalk, and titanium dioxide
Group B: Glycerine glycol, seaweed
Group C: Detergent, formaldehyde
To what does the author link these items? Why?
Word
Style
Form
Technique
Homework
Write a satire in the vein of “I Want a Wife”
or “What’s In Your Toothpaste”
One page