Department of English

In this course, we will follow the narrative of Milton's 'authorship' and the historical narrative of absolutism/revolution/restoration. It will be part of the aim of this course to look at how such narratives are constructed. We will begin with "Lycidas" and "Comus" and proceed to Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. We will be looking at Milton from a variety of angles (historical, anthropological, political) with particular attention to the construction of the "self" and of sexuality in the seventeenth century, and to the relations between writing and loss.