[Milton-L] Renaissance course tips
HANNIBAL HAMLIN
hamlin.22 at osu.edu
Tue Mar 4 15:44:48 EST 2008
I certainly agree about Milton's ability as a storyteller -- in fact, I think this is one reason students find PL so exciting (they end up forgetting it's a "poem").
Re. your courses (obviously I'm open to a distraction!):
#1 For Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet too. Think of all the spin-offs, and how it has influenced out attitudes to romance (small "r"). If you're thinking of "influencing nations," however doesn't the list shrink a bit? And you'd have to add Uncle Tom's Cabin, Nicholas Nickleby, maybe Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
#2 I'm actually reading a paper on this at a Raleigh conference at ECU in April (stay tuned). To your list you could add poems by Marvell, Frost, WC Williams, and many others.
#3 Think about also including a poetic tradition that starts off elsewhere but then blends into the Horatian -- Psalm 1 "Blessed is the man." Thomas Campion's song "The Man of Life Upright," for one, paraphrases Horace's ode but also includes elements of the Psalm. Generally, it would be fascinating to contrast biblical and classical models of the happy man.
Cheers!
Hannibal Hamlin
Associate Professor of English
The Ohio State University
Book Review Editor and Associate Editor, Reformation
Mailing Address (2007-2009):
The Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
Permanent Address:
Department of English
The Ohio State University
421 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1340
----- Original Message -----
From: pluscachange at comcast.net
Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2008 3:11 pm
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Renaissance course tips
> Hello,
>
> I'm using a borrowed computer and time is short, but I'm taking
> time to read this thread at least.
>
> Something I've noticed with my "Paradise Lost Daily" reading is
> something I don't recall anyone ever specifically pointing out
> about Milton: he is a superb storyteller. He is colorful, vivid,
> and gives a superb sense of space. Perhaps if you'd take students
> through the first 100 lines of Book I, showing them how to parse
> the sentences, get acclimated to the meter, having them read
> aloud, draw the pictures they receive of the characters and
> situations it would come more real to them. (It is curious that
> most PL illustrations are line drawings or engravings when the
> color M depicts is splashy; i'm toying with the idea of starting a
> contest on PL daily for pictures, but I have to get back online
> first.)
>
> All the objections presented in this thread could be brought up
> with the class to explain why in the survey course we're
> waterskiing over PL, but still pique their curiosity to learn more
> and read the whole poem. You could organize a marathon reading, or
> start a Milton club. In fact, you could use the daily divisions
> i've put on the PLdaily site or do your own, but the contrast of
> careful, close reading and a summary or quickly through in a
> marathon should go far to keeping eyes from glazing over at the
> very mention of Milton.
>
> And why be so negative? If PL is interesting enough to be the
> basis of such films as "The Devil's Advocate" and "The Golden
> Compass" and the forthcoming "Paradise Lost" it can't be a total
> groaner.
> Some courses I'd like to do:
> --Count on your fingers the ten, or five, imaginative books in
> Western literature (or just English) that have really made a
> difference in people's and nation's lives. I think you'd have to
> include PL, Pilgrims Progress, Dante (at least the Inferno), the
> KJV, Hamlet, and perhaps Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Pride and
> Prejudice, Black Beauty, and your choice of Dickens. Some might
> include Lolita, and Catcher in the Rye.
>
> --I'd call it something like "Answers to the Shepherd" i.e.
> Marlow's, and look at the various replies such as Raleigh. Donne,
> some lesser knowns back to classical times and forward to C Day-
> Lewis, and including L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. This could also
> be a multimedia performance, sheer eye and ear-candy, but as a
> course, these contrasts could serve as a fulcrum for examining
> ideas of balance and excess, longterm planning vs carpe diem, even
> Marxism vs capitalism.
>
> --Much related would be "Happy the Man who ________". A look at
> Horace's "Beatus ille" and the various spinoffs ranging from sheer
> hedonism in allusions from some of the Cavalier poets to piety
> bordering on sanctimony is various hymns and popular poetry. The
> idea would be for each student to fill in the blank for himself,
> after an examination of what people have described, intuited or in
> any other wise come up with as to what constitutes happiness. I
> was thinking, I'm sure some Milton could be worked into this; what
> comes to mind is the Book IV speech in which Satan bemoans his
> lost happiness; or Books V, VI and IX where A&E's felicity is set out.
>
> Incidentally, I think PL can be excerpted. The "arias" or
> orations, Milton's editorial asides, and perhaps some of the
> invocations.
> The virtual sand of my virtual winged chariot is hurrying near, so
> I'll conclude and wish you "good night, and joy be with you all.
> --
> Nancy Charlton
> http://groups.google.com/group/paradiselostdaily/
>
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: HANNIBAL HAMLIN <hamlin.22 at osu.edu>
> > My apologies, Carol. All that you say makes sense, and I'm
> grateful for the
> > clarification. However, along with your suggestion of engaging
> students with
> > some of the most interesting themes and ideas in Milton, I'd
> still urge that we
> > also think about introducing PL as a poem. Certainly, you're
> right that one
> > can't do justice to Milton's verse in a survey, especially if
> (as has been my
> > typical experience) most students arrive entirely ignorant of
> the most basic
> > understanding of prosody -- I think I've taught "Meter in a
> Nutshell" in almost
> > every course I've taught! Still, it's also been my experience
> that many
> > students find prosody rather exciting, once they have some sense
> of how it
> > works. Or rather, what they find exciting is the brilliant
> marriage of sound
> > and sense, in Milton's line-breaks and enjambments, for
> instance, or his
> > multilingual puns, or his dizzying classical and biblical
> allusions. If nothing
> > else, including some examples of this will convey to students w
> > hy it was that Milton chose to write PL as a poem and not as
> another prose
> > tract.
> >
> > Hannibal
> >
> >
> > Hannibal Hamlin
> > Associate Professor of English
> > The Ohio State University
> > Book Review Editor and Associate Editor, Reformation
> >
> > Mailing Address (2007-2009):
> >
> > The Folger Shakespeare Library
> > 201 East Capitol Street SE
> > Washington, DC 20003
> >
> > Permanent Address:
> >
> > Department of English
> > The Ohio State University
> > 421 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue
> > Columbus, OH 43210-1340
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Carol Barton <cbartonphd1 at verizon.net>
> > Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2008 12:46 pm
> > Subject: Re: [Milton-L] Renaissance course tips
> >
> > > I think you misunderstood my point, Hannibal:
> > >
> > > (1) There is no way you can cover sufficient background,
> acclimate
> > > students
> > > to Miltonic blank verse, or even give the most cursory reading
> of
> > > _Paradise
> > > Lost_ in full in a survey course that will lead to anything
> like a
> > > full
> > > appreciation of the poet and the poem.
> > >
> > > (2) Even the two books I suggested require a good deal of
> > > preparation of the
> > > kind identified above.
> > >
> > > (3) It might be better, in a sophomore survey, to give
> students a
> > > broad
> > > sample of Miltonic writing and thought by excerpt (organised
> > > thematically)
> > > in a form and format in which they can fully assimilate it,
> and
> > > thus to whet
> > > their appetites for more, than to try to cram as much PL into
> > > their reading
> > > list as possible, and succeed only in reinforcing what seems
> to be
> > > the
> > > non-specialist impression of him.
> > >
> > > In no way--ever--would I advocate an impression of Milton as
> (1) a
> > > Puritan--especially but not only when the term is used
> > > pejoratively; as (2)
> > > an old white guy--whose work is irrelevant to the modern
> world; as
> > > (3) the
> > > author of a long boring poem--ANY long boring poetry. I
> certainly
> > > haven't
> > > cultivated that negative imagery at any time in my life--but I
> > > have often
> > > been told by others (when they learn what my research
> interests
> > > are) how
> > > much they "hated" Milton, and how surprising it is for them to
> > > hear from me
> > > that studying his work could be a lifelong passion. Some have
> even
> > > been
> > > inspired to go back and give him a second (fairer) chance.
> > >
> > > All I'm suggesting is that, if we have to parcel Milton out
> > > piecemeal, we do
> > > it in such a way that we spark an interest, rather than
> confirm
> > > (bad)
> > > popular mythology.
> > >
> > > Best to all,
> > >
> > > Carol Barton
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > Manage your list membership and access list archives at
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> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > >
> >
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