Light on Milton

Welcome to English 344 and to this blog on John Milton and the radical seventeenth century.

The title of the blog comes from the first book of Paradise Lost, which we'll be reading in its entirety this term. In Book I, Satan finds himself in a horrible flaming dungeon, having lost his war against God:

... yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe (PL 1.62-64)

As we'll see, Satan perceives his new domain as if it is a photographic negative: darkness becomes light, and light darkness. This seems to me a fitting image for our course, which aims to test the idea of a 'radical Milton', a poet and thinker who himself liked to test and sometimes topple orthodoxy.

I'll be using this space for short postings (like the above) in response to our readings and class discussions, and also to point out useful resources.

See you tomorrow!