Spring 2008
English 305: Milton
MWF, 9-9:50
Belk 219

Don W. King: http://www.montreat.edu/dking/ 
Office: McGowan Center 107
Office hrs. MWF 10-11 a.m.; MW 2-3 p.m.; Tuesday 9-12 a.m.;
Phone 828-669-8012, ex. 3819
dking@montreat.edu

Table of Contents:

Course description
Course rationale
Texts
Course objectives
Goals
Course outline
Evaluation
Library
Bibliography
Academic Integrity
Final comments

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An intensive study of Milton's poetry with an emphasis on Comus, Samson Agonistes, and Paradise Lost. 

COURSE RATIONALE: Like Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Wordsworth, John Milton is a major figure in British literature. His work is much discussed and read even today, and his writings have influenced countless others through the years. For sheer learning and poetic prowess, he is unmatched in the English language. In addition, he wrote prolifically on matters of state, politics, marriage, and theology, and, thus, illustrates much about the seventeenth century English milieu. For these and other reasons he deserves our attention today.

TEXTS:

Required:

John Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose ed. by Merritt Hughes
A Reader's Guide to John Milton by Marjorie Hope Nicolson
The Cambridge Companion to Milton by Dennis Danielson
A Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis

Strongly recommended:

A Handbook to Literature, Eds. William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed), Ed. Joseph Gibaldi.

Also, see Oxford Reference Online www.oxfordreference.com for some basic reference assistance.  It contains desktop access to 100 key Oxford dictionaries and reference works. The Core Collection brings together 100 language and subject dictionaries and reference works - containing well over 60,000 pages - into a single cross-searchable resource.  Also, see the Oxford English Dictionary, the grandfather of all dictionaries at http://dictionary.oed.com 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The central objective of this course is to expose you to a careful reading and study of the major poetic works of Milton. Because Milton’s poetry is often a statement about his life and beliefs, a secondary objective will be a general knowledge of his life and the political, social, and religious temper of seventeenth century England. A final objective will be an examination of Milton's extensive use of the Bible in his poetry (Montreat College Educational Objectives IV: 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7).

Additionally, there are several questions we will consider as we work through Milton’s poetry, including, but not limited to:

1. What accounts for the fact that Milton’s poetry is aesthetically beautiful, poetically powerful, and spiritually informative (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)? 
2. What are the important literary qualities of Milton's minor poems (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)?
3. How pivotal is a knowledge of Scripture when reading, analyzing, and interpreting Milton? What is his "view" of Scripture? Which biblical texts most inform Milton’s poetry, especially Paradise Lost (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)? 
4. In considering Milton’s life, what is the value of a comprehensive education informed by both classical and Christian traditions (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)?
5. What is Milton’s view of the relationship between passion and reason, flesh and spirit, body and soul, matter and spirit? Is his view biblical (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)?
6. What is Milton’s view of marriage? Of the "proper" relationship between husbands and wives?
7. Who is the real hero of Paradise Lost and why (MCEO 1c, 1d, 1e, 1g, 3, and 5)?

GOALS:

1. That you read and analyze several of Milton’s major short poems (MCEO 2 and 3).
2. That you read and analyze Milton’s poetic masterpiece, Paradise Lost (MCEO 2 and 3).
3. That you be able to define a secondary (or literary) epic, and describe its key literary characteristics (MCEO 2 and 3).
4. That you write a book review concerning the work of Milton (MCEO 2 and 3).
5. That you write a long analytic research paper on Paradise Lost (MCEO 2 and 3).
6. That you engage in research on Milton via the Internet (MCEO 2, 3, and 4).
7. That you utilize email to extend class discussion, to communicate with me, and to perform assigned small group work (MCEO 2, 3, and 4).
8. That you turn in all important written assignments via email attachments or on diskette (MCEO 2, 3, and 4).

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COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1 Introduction; Milton's life; Early prose and selected poems

Week 2 "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso"

Week 3 Comus

Week 4 Samson Agonistes

Feb. 8 TEST 1

Week 5  Paradise Lost; Introduction and Book I

Week 6 Book II

Week 7 Book III

Feb. 29 TEST 2

Week 8 Book IV

Week 9 Book V

Weeks 10-11 Books VI, VII, and VIII

Apr. 2 TEST 3

Week 12 Book IX

Week 13 Books X, XI, XII

Week 14  Paradise Regained

May 3 TEST 4

EVALUATION:

1. There will be four tests, in class essays, and quizzes that constitute 60% of your grade in the course.
2. A book review of The Cambridge Companion to Milton will count 10% (due Feb 18, 2008, by midnight), and a book review of Preface to Paradise Lost (due Mar. 24, 2008, by midnight) will count 10%.
3. You will write one analytical paper (1,500 to 2,500 words) on some aspect of Paradise Lost; due April  23, 2008 by midnight. This paper will count 10% of your final grade.
4. The remaining 10% will come from your class participation, discussion, regular attendance, homework, reserve and supplemental reading, group work, and various short writing assignments. 
5. There are a total of 1000 pts possible in the course. Final grades will be compiled using the following guidelines:

   1000-900    A to A-
   899-800      B+ to B-
   799-700      C+ to C-
   699-600      D+ to D-
   599-0          F

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LIBRARY: All students are encouraged to take advantage of the services and resources available from the library.  You can search the online catalog and the library’s databases by going to http://www.montreat.edu/library/.  Select “Catalog” to search the online catalog or “Electronic Resources” to search the databases.  The catalog lists all of the books in the Montreat College library as well as the holdings of five other colleges.  You may check out books from all of these libraries.  In addition, you may request books or journal articles via interlibrary loan.  From the online catalog, you can also check on reserve materials by selecting “Reserve Desk” and searching by instructor name or course name.  

The list of databases at http://www.montreat.edu/library/completeelectronic.asp provides links to a variety of databases containing journal articles, online reference sources, and electronic books (ebooks).  These databases are accessible both on and off campus. You can search for journals at http://www.montreat.edu/library/electronic.asp.  Ask the library staff for a password for remote access if you live off campus.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Of much interest to you will be the multiple resources available via electronic databases, especially JSTOR.  In addition, the following books are on three-day reserve in the library and may be helpful when you work on your out of class literary analyses:

Achinstein, Sharon.  Milton and the Revolutionary Reader.
Blessington, Francis. Paradise Lost: A Student's Companion to the Poem.
Bloom, Harold, ed.  John Milton.
Bush, Douglas.  English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, 1600-1660.
------------.  Paradise Lost in Our Time.
Danielson, Dennis. The Cambridge Companion to Milton.
Ferry, Anne.  Milton's Epic Voice: The Narrator in Paradise Lost.
Fish, Stanley.  Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost.
Hanford, James H. John Milton, Englishman.
Kermode, Frank. The Living Milton.
King, John N.  Milton and Religious Controversy: Satire and Polemic in Paradise Lost.
Kishlansky, Mark.  A Monarchy Transformed:  Britain 1603-1714.
Martz, Louise Lohr.   Milton, Poet of Exile.
Milton, John.  Paradise Lost (Casebook).
Mulryan, John.  Milton and the Middle Ages.
Nicolson, Marjorie. John Milton: A Reader's Guide to His Poetry.
Rumrich, John P.  Milton Unbound: Controversy and Reinterpretation.
Schwartz, Regina M.  Remembering and Repeating: On Milton's Theology and Poetics.
Sims, James. The Bible in Milton’s Epics.
------------ and Leland Ryken, eds. Milton and Scriptural Tradition: The Bible into Poetry.
Steadman, John.  Milton's Biblical and Classical Imagery.
Tillyard, E. M. W. The Elizabethan World Picture.
------------.  Studies in Milton.
Walker, Julia, ed. Milton and the Idea of Woman.

Also, the Bell Library carries the scholarly journal, Milton Quarterly

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: For all individual assignments students are expected to present their own work; documentation of research must follow the MLA Handbook for Writer of Research Paper or The Columbia Guide to Online Style (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos2006/basic.html). Cases of academic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating and plagiarism, will result in either failure of the assignment or the course. For the college's policy on this issue, please click academic integrity. 

FINAL COMMENTS: As you can see, this syllabus is on-line; for the most accurate information about the course, go to listing for this course on Moodle . Class discussions, tests, and writing assignments will assume you have accessed all these materials via Moodle . Please feel free to come by my office in McGowan Center 107, contact me at extension 3819, or e-mail me at dking@montreat.edu if you need help with any aspect of the course.

Please feel free to come by my office in McGowan Center 107, contact me at extension 3819, or email me at dking@montreat.edu if you need help with any aspect of the course. 

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Last updated January 16, 2008