MODULE I

The Seventeenth Century was marked by the decline of the Renaissance spirit, and the writers
either imitated the great masters of Elizabethan period or followed new paths. We no longer find
great imaginative writers of the stature of Shakespeare, Spenser and Sidney. There is a marked
change in temperament which may be called essentially modern. Though during the Elizabethan
period, the new spirit of the Renaissance had broken away with the medieval times, and started a
new modern development, in fact it was in the seventeenth century that this task of breaking
away with the past was completely accomplished, and the modern spirit, in the fullest sense of
the term, came into being. This spirit may be defined as the spirit of observation and of
preoccupation with details, and a systematic analysis of facts, feelings and ideas. In other words,
it was the spirit of science popularized by such great men as Newton, Bacon and Descartes. In
the field of literature this spirit manifested itself in the form of criticism, which in England is the
creation of the Seventeenth Century.

One very important and significant feature of this new spirit of observation and analysis was the
popularisation of the art of biography which was unknown during the Sixteenth Century. Thus
whereas we have no recorded information about the life of such an eminent dramatist as
Shakespeare, in the seventeenth century many authors like Fuller and Aubrey laboriously
collected and chronicled the smallest facts about the great men of their own day, or of the
immediate past. Autobiography also came in the wake of biography, and later on keeping of
diaries and writing of journals became popular, for example Pepy’s Diary and Fox’s Journal.

The Puritan Movement. In its broadest sense the Puritan movement may be regarded as a
second and greater Renaissance, a rebirth of the moral nature of man following the intellectual
awakening of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In Italy, whose influence had been
uppermost in Elizabethan literature, the Renaissance had been essentially pagan and sensuous. It
had hardly touched the moral nature of man, and it brought little relief from the despotism of
rulers.

Literary Characteristics. In literature also the Puritan Age was one of confusion, due to the
breaking up of old ideals. There are three main characteristics in which Puritan literature differs
from that of the preceding age: (1) Elizabethan literature, with all its diversity, had a marked
unity in spirit, resulting from the patriotism of all classes and their devotion to a queen who, with
all her faults, sought first the nation's welfare. Under the Stuarts all this was changed. The kings
were the open enemies of the people; the country was divided by the struggle for political and
religious liberty; and the literature was as divided in spirit as were the struggling parties. (2)
Elizabethan literature is generally inspiring; it throbs with youth and hope and vitality. That
which follows speaks of age and sadness; even its brightest hours are followed by gloom, and by
the pessimism inseparable from the passing of old standards. (3) Elizabethan literature is
intensely romantic; the romance springs from the heart of youth, and believes all things, even the
impossible. The great schoolman's credo, "I believe because it is impossible," is a better
expression of Elizabethan literature than of mediæval theology. In the literature of the Puritan
period one looks in vain for romantic ardor. Even in the lyrics and love poems a critical,
intellectual spirit takes its place, and whatever romance asserts itself is in form rather than in
feeling, a fantastic and artificial adornment of speech rather than the natural utterance of a heart
in which sentiment is so strong and true that poetry is its only expression.

a) Puritan Poetry
The Puritan poetry, also called the Jacobean and Caroline Poetry during the reigns of James I
and Charles I respectively, can be divided into three parts –(i) Poetry of the School of Spenser;
(ii) Poetry of the Metaphysical School; (iii) Poetry of the Cavalier Poets.
(i) The School of Spenser
The Spenserians were the followers of Spenser. In spite of the changing conditions and
literary tastes which resulted in a reaction against the diffuse, flamboyant, Italianate poetry which
Spenser and Sidney had made fashionable during the sixteenth century, they preferred to follow
Spenser and considered him as their master.
(ii) The Poets of the Metaphysical School
The metaphysical poets were John Donne, Herrick, Thomas Carew, Richard Crashaw, Henry
Vaughan, George Herbet and Lord Herbert of Cherbury. The leader of this school was Donne.
They are called the metaphysical poets not because they are highly philosophical, but because
their poetry is full of conceits, exaggerations, quibbling about the meanings of words, display of
learning and far-fetched similes and metaphors. It was Dr. Johnson who in his essay on Abraham
Cowley in his Lives of the Poets used the term ‘metaphysical’
iii) The Cavalier Poets
Whereas the metaphysical poets followed the lead of Donne, the cavalier poets followed
Ben Jonson. Jonson followed the classical method in his poetry as in his drama. He imitated
Horace by writing, like him, satires, elegies, epistles and complimentary verses. But though his
verse possess classical dignity and good sense, it does not have its grace and ease. His lyrics and
songs also differ from those of Shakespeare. Whereas Shakespeare’s songs are pastoral, popular
and ‘artless’, Jonson’s are sophisticated, particularised, and have intellectual and emotional
rationality.

(b) Jacobean and Caroline Drama

After Shakespeare the drama in England suffered and a decline during the reigns of James I
and Charles I. The heights reached by Shakespeare could not be kept by later dramatists, and
drama in the hands of Beaumont and Fletcher and others became, what may be called,
‘decadent’. In other words, the real spirit of the Elizabethan drama disappeared, and only the
outward show and trappings remained.
Whereas Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists took delight in action and the emotions
associated with it, the Jacobean and Caroline dramatists gave expression to passive suffering and
lack of mental and physical vigour. Moreover, whereas the Elizabethan dramatists were
sometimes, coarse and showed bad taste, these later dramatists were positively and deliberately
indecent. Instead of devoting all their capacity to fully illuminating the subject in hand, they
made it as an instrument of exercising their own power of rhetoric and pedantry. Thus in the
hands of these dramatists of the inferior type the romantic drama which had achieved great
heights during the Elizabethan period, suffered a terrible decline, and when the Puritans closed
the theatres in 1642, it died a natural death.

(c) Jacobean and Caroline Prose

This period was rich in prose. The great prose writers were Bacon, Burton, Milton, Sir
Thomas Browne, Jeremy Tayler and Clarendon. English prose which had been formed into a
harmonious and pliable instrument by the Elizabethans, began to be used in various ways, as
narrative as well as a vehicle for philosophical speculation and scientific knowledge. For the first
time the great scholars began to write in English rather than Latin. The greatest single influence
which enriched the English prose was the Authorised Version of the Bible (English translation of
the Bible)
MODULE II - POET

John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, in London, as the second child of John and Sara
(neé Jeffrey). The family lived on Bread Street in Cheapside, near St. Paul's Cathedral. His father
made a comfortable fortune as a notary. He also inherited from his father a love of music who
was a composer of some renown. His mother was well esteemed and was known for her
charities. Milton had an older sister, Anne and a younger brother Christopher who was lawyer
and a Royalist but continued to be on good terms with him.
Milton received his early education at home under private tutors and was then admitted to St.
Paul’s school in 1620. He was especially interested in Latin and Greek. He even wrote Latin
Elegy IV IN 1627 to Thomas Young, one of his tutors and expressed his gratitude for introducing
him to Latin poetry. Milton was a voracious reader since childhood. This excessive reading was
one of the leading causes of his blindness.
In 1625, Milton was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge. While Milton was a hardworking
student, he was also argumentative to the extent that only a year later, in 1626, he got suspended
after a dispute with his tutors, William Chappell. He got his BA degree in 1629.
At university he earned the nickname of “the Lady” because of his rather delicate features and
his abstinence from sensual pleasures, drinks and even certain food habits that his university
friends took part rather vigorously. Milton’s abstinence should be noted because this has a lot of
relevance when we consider the fact that Milton did this in preparation for a lifelong vocation of
being an epic poet. In 1632, Milton took his M.A. cum laude at Cambridge, after which he
retired to the family homes in London and Horton, Buckinghamshire, for some 6 years of private
study and literary composition. He devoted himself to studying history, literature and philosophy.
The year 1634 is important because he wrote Comus, a masque which was the first dramatization
of the theme of good and evil. It also speaks about virginity and when we read this with Milton’s
abstinence we can see how deeply he believed in his vocation of a poet.
As customary for young gentlemen of means, Milton set out for a tour of Europe in the spring of
1638. He met famed scholar Hugo Grotius in Paris, where he stayed briefly before continuing on
to Italy.
In the spring of 1642, Milton married Mary Powell, 17 years old to his 34, but the relationship
was an unhappy one, and Mary left him to visit the family home briefly thereafter, and did not
return. Matters were not improved when the Powells declared for the King in the Civil War
which broke out in August. This prompted Milton to write his so-called 'Divorce Tracts' speaking
for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. In 1643, Milton published the Doctrine and
Discipline of Divorce, which had its second, longer edition in early 1644. In 1644, Milton also
published The Judgement of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce. The 'Divorce Tracts' caused an
uproar both in parliament and amidst the clergy, as well as with the general populace, which
earned him the nickname "Milton the Divorcer."2

Milton had made plans to remarry, when Mary Powell returned. The two seem to have
reconciled, since their daughter Anne was born in 1646. The whole Powell clan moved in with
the Miltons, because Royalists had been ousted from Oxford. The situation was not savory.
In March 1649, the Cromwellian government appointed Milton Secretary for Foreign Tongues
and ordered him to write an answer to Charles I's purported Eikon Basilike ("Royal Image").
After publishing Observations on the Articles of Peace, Milton published Eikonoklastes ("Image
Breaker") in October, 1649 where he writes in favour of regitude not only as the right of the
people but as the duty of the people.

In 1663, Milton remarried again, to Elizabeth Minshull, a match his daughters opposed. He spent
his time tutoring students and finishing his life's work, the epic, Paradise Lost. Among the
greatest works ever to be written in English, the feat is all the more remarkable for Milton's
blindness — he would compose verse upon verse at night in his head and then dictate them from
memory to his aides in the morning. Paradise Lost finally saw publication in 1667, in ten books.
It was reissued in 1668 with a new title-page and additional materials. The book was met with
instant success and amazement; even Dryden is reported to have said, "This man cuts us all out,
and the ancients too."5

Milton died peacefully of gout in November, 1674, and was buried in the church of St. Giles,
Cripplegate.

MODULE III

CONFLICTS

THE PURITAN AGE cannot be discussed without a mention of the civil wars that wrecked the
nation. The civil war from 1640-49 had 3 main areas of conflict

1. Political
2. Religious
3. Social
1. Political
 Over the question of sovereignty
 The most widely held political theory is that of mixed constitution or mixed
monarchy in which the sovereignty was shared between the king and the
parliament.
 But again this theory had loopholes since it contrasted directly with the divine
right of the kings
 Moreover in England there was still a widespread emotional reverence for
monarchy.
 Still revolutionary tendencies had started to seep into some of the anti royal camp
who felt that after all the monarch should be asnswerable to their subjects.
 This is when the 2 sided conflict acquired another angle – the army. So now the
opponents were
#the presbytarians
 #army independents under Cromwell who wanted religious toleration and
extreme constitutional changes though still under monarchy
# minority groups like the Diggers who wanted social equality through the
army. The levelers who were army radicals opposed by Cromwell wanted
the abolition of the monarchy and other political reforms.
 The King took advantage of these opposing camps and played one against the other. Then
he allied with the Scots and ultimately lost Cromwell’s trust. After the royal defeat in the
second civil war in 1648 the king was judged to be executed through decapitation.

MODULE IV

 Ever since the Reformation the Anglican church was facing internal problems
 This came to a head in the 1630s with the activities of archbishop Laud.
 The Anglican church at that time was divied into three sections
1. High Anglicans or the Laudians
2. Moderate Anglicans
3. Putitans or the presbytarians
 Again the church or rather the ecclesiastical world of the English consisted of
1. The Anglican church
2. The Catholics
3. Independents
4. Other sects
 The puritans opposed the Laudians:
1. Purify the church governance and model it on the continental Protestant churches
including the abolition of bishops
2. Against the spread of Armenainism i.e. belief in free will. This conflicted with their
Calvinistic belief in predeterminism.
 Archbishop Laud believed in ceremony and the beauty of holiness and was criticized as
popery.
 Apart from the ecclesiastical opposition there was also secular and political hostility to
the Bishop’s interference in state governance. Laud was inj effect the Prime Minister of
England.
 Laud tried to silence the puritans by censoring the 2 p’s of the era – the press and the
pulpit which led to widespread migration to the Netherlands and the America.
 Laud’s extremimism became the cause of his death and the abolishment of the episcopacy
– thje rule of the bishops.
 The Westminster Assembly mostly comprising of Presbyterians was set up to decide the
church governance.
 The Presbyterians wanted to imitate the Scottish model which allows no room for dissent.
 In this way the presbytarians quickly filled in the shoes of the episcopacy
 Milton wrote “new presbyter is but old priest writ large”
 the execution of the king also appalled the presbytarians who had always sided with the
royal camp.
 The establishment of the Commonwealth did not settle the problems of the church
 Laud’s actions made Milton a Puritan but he eventually broke away from it.
 The break came most probably from the opposition of his divorce pamphlets.
 Areopagitica (1644) talks about divorce through incompatibility.
 Milton could have been executed after the restoration it was only through the
intervention of his friends that he escaped execution.

MODULE V – MILTON’S PROCLAIMED AIM TO WRITE AN EPIC

What strikes a modern reader of Milton is his bold claim to write an epic and such an epic
that would be revered by generations to come. What is even more surprising is the fact that
he decided to write this epic when he was still a teenager. But he took more than three
decades to fulfill his ambition.

Milton started his epic project only after the restoration. His had earlier decided the theme of
his epic and had devoted many hours years after years. He wanted to base his epic on a
nationalistic theme – he wanted to talk about England or the untied kingdom. But after the
years of religious and political problems that plagued England miltons felt that he could not
write his epic. The nation of his dreams, his ideal England was no longer a possibility. He
had hoped for a puritan paradise, had worked actively for it but faced a humiliating defeat.
Therefore there was no subject to base his epic on. Milton then wrote his epic on fall of adam
and eve and the fate of the fallen angels who had revolted against god.

This parallel between the eden that man lost and the possible eden that England lost is
prevalently present throughout the 12 books of paradise lost.

INVOCATION

Milton begins his very first line of his epic with a strong statement against any criticism that
it might gather. Considering the fact that the epic was no longer in style or that other such
epics have existed before. Milton thus gives a powerful defence as pointed out by Harold
bloom. In fact the most distinctive feature of the invocation is the repetition of the word
“first”. It appears for a total of 6 times in the first 33 lines of paradise lost.

“of man’s first disobedience” 1

That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed 8

Instruct me for thou knowst, thou from the first 19

Say first, for heav’n hides nothing form the view 27

 …..say first what cause 28
Who first seduced 33

Back to the text:

Milton proposes to compose or sing of man’s first act of disobedience to God’s command in
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge which was forbidden by God and as a result of
which death and all the miseries of mankind were brought into this world and the heavenly
state of innocence and bliss which man enjoyed in Heaven was lost, until Jesus Christ, the
Son of God should atone for our sins by his death and regain for us the lost happiness. –

Milton’s speaker invokes the muse, a mystical source of poetic inspiration, to sing about these
subjects through him, but he makes it clear that he refers to a different muse from the muses
who traditionally inspired classical poets by specifying that his muse inspired Moses to receive
the Ten Commandments and write Genesis. Milton’s muse is the Holy Spirit, which inspired the
Christian Bible, not one of the nine classical muses who reside on Mount Helicon—the “Aonian
mount” of I.1 5 . He says that his poem, like his muse, will fly above those of the Classical poets
and accomplish things never attempted before, because his source of inspiration is greater than
theirs. Then he invokes the Holy Spirit, asking it to fill him with knowledge of the beginning of the
world, because the Holy Spirit was the active force in creating the universe.

Milton’s speaker announces that he wants to be inspired with this sacred knowledge because he
wants to show his fellow man that the fall of humankind into sin and death was part of God’s
greater plan, and that God’s plan is justified.

Milton invokes his muse, which is actually the Holy Spirit rather than one of the nine muses. By
invoking a muse, but differentiating it from traditional muses, Milton manages to tell us quite a lot
about how he sees his project. In the first place, an invocation of the muse at the beginning of an
epic is conventional, so Milton is acknowledging his awareness of Homer, Virgil, and later poets,
and signaling that he has mastered their format and wants to be part of their tradition. But by
identifying his muse as the divine spirit that inspired the Bible and created the world, he shows
that his ambitions go far beyond joining the club of Homer and Virgil. Milton’s epic will surpass
theirs, drawing on a more fundamental source of truth and dealing with matters of more
fundamental importance to human beings. At the same time, however, Milton’s invocation is
extremely humble, expressing his utter dependence on God’s grace in speaking through him.
Milton thus begins his poem with a mixture of towering ambition and humble self-effacement,
simultaneously tipping his hat to his poetic forebears and promising to soar above them for
God’s glorification.

MODULE VI
HELL

Immediately after the invocation Milton brings in the most important character in his epic –
Satan. Milton inverts tradition by beginning with the antagonist,
Satan, instead of a protagonist. Milton goes on to say that the fall of Adam
and Eve is because of Satan. Satan’s is the first and greatest revolt
 against the hierarchy of God’s universe. God arranges all his
creation according to rank, and Satan upset this order by
trying to do battle with God himself, the supreme monarch of
all.

Milton presents Hell as a place designed for the eternal punishment of the fallen
angels. Hell is a place for removed from the celestial seat of bliss. It is situated in the
nethermost depth of abyss, and it takes nine days and nights to fall into this dreadful
pit from heaven. Hell is an assemblage of all the arbitration human emotions – pains,
despair, envy, restlessness, heartlessness, heartburn etc. This scene of barren
desolation is thus described by Milton –
“A Dungeon horrible on all rides round,
Serves only to discover sights of woe ….”
Here is sinister wilderness, ‘a dismal situation waste and wild’. While Satan surveys
Hell as far as he can see and observe, He finds it a vast, gloomy and dreary region. It
is like a huge underground prison house terrible to behold.

Hell is a burning reign, a place of sultriness, a burning oven, a places where one is
trapped and gaoled far ever. From the burning furnace of Hell the constantly
flickering flames issue no light. They only provides phantasmagoria of dim visibility.
The medieval notion that the flame of Hell give no light is derived by Milton instigates
that the damned and the doomed are deprived of the sight of God, who is the form of
light. It is a place where fire exists without light and darkness is almost tangible and
this darkness itself reveals the sight of misery. Hell is a region of sorrow and misery,
helplessness and eternal torment. A look at Hell reveals:
“Regions of sorrow, doleful shades where peace
And rest can never dwelt, hopes never comes
That comes to all, but fortune with out end”.
Hopes being totally absent, there are only never ending torture. And there is no
release from here for the fallen angels. It is very unlike the place from whence they
fell.

Hell is a lake of ever burning sulfur, a flood of fire, which constantly overwhelms and
engulfs the victims imprisoned in this dreadful gloom. Such a place, encapsulated by
utter darkness has been designed by God for the fallen angels as a mark of
punishment for their foul revolt. The ‘floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire’
make it most torrid clime. It is all wrapped up in smoke and foul smell. Like a volcano
it blasts vapour and blown off rocks. Here is the burnt surface at the bottom.

The lakes of ever burning fire are, thus, one part of the Hell only. On another half of
this terrible dungeon lays an open space, a vast tract of solid ground of ‘burning
marl’. Such a place of course, heat and insufferable anguish is Hell where peace and
rest are impossible. Peace, rest hope and calm, that which make life enjoyable and
worth living, one completely absent in Hell. This is a place of perfect perdition where
to exist is to experience the worst death in a deathless world.
Mitlon thus makes it a point to describe hell as directly opposite to heaven as he can and he even
goes on to say that it is the furthest away from heaven as it is possible.

MODULE VII

SATAN

The poem then focuses on Satan as he lies dazed in a lake of fire

that is totally dark. Next to him isBeelzebub, Satan’s second-in
command, and Satan speaks to him, finally breaking the “horrid
silence.” Satan laments their current state, and how far they have
fallen from their previous glorious state as angels. He admits that
he has been defeated, but he does not regret his war
against God (though he never calls God by name). He claims that
his heavenly essence cannot be killed, and as long as his life and
will remains Satan vows to keep fighting against the “tyranny of
Heav’n.”

Satan bemoaned the fact that Beelzebub had not fared the fall
greatly. He said they have been joined in misery. He also felt that
god had kept his powers hidden and they had no knowledge of
the extent of his powers. But he is resolved in his determination
and is willing to fight for the indignity he has suffered and fought
for again.

100. All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,

One of the most famous lines in the epic.

Satan says that they can only learn form their previous mistakes. They might be physically
defeated but their will cannot be conquered. As long as their faith in themselves remain strong
god and all his powers cannot conquer them.
Beelzebub then wonders if god had specially thrown them in hell so that they continue to suffer
for eternity for they can never die.
This is when satan conceives his grand plan. He says that the only way to distort the way of god
is to continue in the evil way for that is precisely the opposite of god’s plans. He says that even if
somehow their evil deeds are covered up they will continue to do so till one way or the other god
can be hurt. Satan is clear that he will not be reconciled with god. He asks Beelzebub to look
around and notice the changes. He says that there is an apparent calmness in the air and that god
or his forces does not seem to be around them and so they should use the opportunity to regather
their army and strength and plan further.

This is the section that points out the sterling qualities of leadership in Satan. This is also why
readers have a lot of problems trying to decide where Milton has placed his faith on. Satan for all
his villainy gathers our sympathy by the sheer dint of his unconquerable courage. Like the
general that he was he points out their weaknesses and at the same time enthuses his people with
will and courage.

MODULE VIII
Satan’s generalship

SATAN spoke to his army with his head above the water and eyes tthat shone with the fire of
wrath. His other body parts were prostrate on the fiery flood. Milton here compares satan with
the old titans who fought against the greek gods. If we go by a colonial reading of the text or
even a secular one, we can see many such loopholes in the text. Clearly we see the radical
puritan Milton here. Then he raised upright and flew towards dry land. Beelzebub followed him
and they rejoiced in their escape. They were godly enough to have regained some of their
strength. Satan muses that they were in stay in utter darkness when they had just came form the
bright halls of heaven but he reconciles with his fate and says that he is happy enough to have sis
consciousness with him.
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven

Another quotable quote. Sums up satan’s theory. Satan then revives his comrades. Milton
describes satan’s huge stature. On his call his army rose up and spread out evenly in ranks.
Milton says that these fallen angels have no mention in the records of heaven for their names
have been deleted and only some got names and temples when they were allowed to roam the
earth and corrupt people by the grace of god. They fixed their abodes next to god’s temples and
sometimes within the temples. Milton then goes on to give names to these angels and most of
them an equivalent in other religions.