ENG 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Conceptual Metaphor, Macular Degeneration, Analog Science Fiction And Fact
Introduction to Milton:
When I Consider How My Light is “pent
and Prologue to Paradise Lost
These notes cover the information found on the following pages:
• Introduction to Milton (pg. 1796);
• “onnet When I Consider How My Light is “pent (pg. 1813);
• Introduction to Paradise Lost, pg. 1823-5
• Paradise Lost (Prologue only, ll. 1-26, pg. 1823)
On Milton himself
I must confess: I never cared much Milton, Paradise Lost (especially his portrayal of Eve
and thus, all women), how he seemed to tyrannize over his daughters, or any of his poetry. To
me, he just seemed like a misogynistic bully. Well, I was much younger then, and a lot less
tolerant. Several things happened, though, to change my mind: for one, I got older and
(hopefully) a little wiser. Secondly, I went to graduate school, where I met and admired people
who feel passionately about poetry and poets and authors that I never paid much heed to. I
remember one fellow graduate student in particular who genuinely loved Paradise Lost. It was
the chosen topic of his dissertation. Since I met him in a seminar on metaphor, we had the
opportunity to talk about how Paradise Lost could be considered a huge, conceptual metaphor
for the loss of the English Republic (more on this below). Since I respected olleague’s
intellect and passion, I begrudgingly gave Milton another chance.
Finally, the last thing that happened is that I re-read the poetry. I learned a hard lesson
here. When in doubt, return to the literature itself and let it speak to you. If it can stand on its
own and earn your respect, then the author ad his peuliarities do’t atter. Once that
negativity goes away, then there are things about the author that may actually elicit some
compassion from us.
I was quite moved by the stor the editors tell us aout Milto’s uhapp arriage ad
his support for diore, hih ade hi a outast. It’s so hard for us to uderstad that
something as simple as the personal freedom afforded by our society that allows us to choose
our mates, un-choose them and choose others, or go back to the original one, whatever we
want, would result in being socially ostracized. We take so much for granted here and now.
While the issue of divorce is a difficult one—it’s eer a simple as we like to think—no one
questions its legality anymore or asts out aoe fro our idst ho adoates it. That’s
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Document Summary
Introduction to milton: (cid:862)when i consider how my light is pent(cid:863) and prologue to paradise lost. These notes cover the information found on the following pages: 1796): onnet (cid:862)when i consider how my light is pent(cid:863) (pg. I must confess: i never cared much milton, paradise lost (especially his portrayal of eve and thus, all women), how he seemed to tyrannize over his daughters, or any of his poetry. To me, he just seemed like a misogynistic bully. Well, i was much younger then, and a lot less tolerant. Several things happened, though, to change my mind: for one, i got older and (hopefully) a little wiser. Secondly, i went to graduate school, where i met and admired people who feel passionately about poetry and poets and authors that i never paid much heed to. I remember one fellow graduate student in particular who genuinely loved paradise lost. It was the chosen topic of his dissertation.
