The Metaphysical Period

17th century

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 termsDefine and categorize

Word, Style, Form, or TechniqueIronyPunCoupletNovelEpigramFeministMetaphorDialectAlliterationRepetition

Epic poemLyric poemConceitDenotationDictionProverbSonnetMoodParadoxSimile

PersonificationToneFlashbackSatireRhymeAntithesisColloquialControlling imageAnecdoteRhyme scheme

John MiltonJohn 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.

Milton created a powerful and sympathetic portrait of Lucifer. His character bears similarities with Shakespeare's hero-villains Iago and Macbeth, whose intellectual nihilism is transformed into metaphysical drama.

Some critics have a problem with Lucifer being connected with heroes.

Paradise Lost

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

Epicbegins with an invocationThe story continues in medias res (in the middle of the story)

-just like Beowulfhigh, 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_room/pl/book_1/index.shtml

Invocation (lines 1 – 26)

On whom does Milton call to help him tellthe story?

What does Milton say he wants to explain first?

What caused Adam and Eve to fall from grace and break God’s command.

SatanHow is Satan described?Direct or indirect characterization?

Summarize the story of Adam and Eve asMilton tells it.

How is the fall of Adam and Eve connectedto the fall of Satan and his league ofdemons?

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?

EvilStubbornVengefulSpiteful

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

Wordsyntax – “..but rather darkness visible”

diction – descriptions of Hell, Satan, etc.

Stylesentence structure

long supporting clausesshorter main clauses

Formepic

high languageinvocationin medias res

Techniqueindirect characterizationallusion

comparing Satan to creatures from other literary works

Sonnets of Milton

Analyze using list of AP terms

Satire so far…

Gulliver’s TravelsPolitical satire

Tories and WhigsProtestants and CatholicsWarfareScience and Technology

Societal satireHuman nature

Satire so far…

Animal FarmPolitical satire

StalinTrotskyCommunismKarl MarxModernization/Industrialization

Paradise LostReligious/societal satire

Sufferings of warFall of manDefeat of the establishmentRighteousness of a higher power

Satire so far…

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/deluxe-content.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 dioxideGroup B: Glycerine glycol, seaweedGroup 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