Prof. William D. Kolbrener, Lecture on John Milton's Paradise Lost .

so so the question guys we the question is really why milton why should we study milton in some class in some courses in other universities there will be a mandatory course on shakespeare and very rarely is there a mandatory course on Milton here at least you have to read Paradise Lost but in some universities you can get an undergraduate education and even be an English major and not read Milton I think the argument can be made that that Milton is a more important poet than Shakespeare I mean Shakespeare is a kind of cottage industry of himself and sure he had influence on later poets that's obvious but Milton is the poet with which everyone had to reckon Milton came after Shakespeare and if you were a poet writing after Shakespeare what would you feel in relationship to your predecessor predecessor well you'd feel anxiety and Milton felt that anxiety and one of the things he did in his poetic career was work out that anxiety in relationship to Shakespeare Milt Shakespeare died in 16 we say 1621 Milton was born in 1608 but Milton in order to become himself had to deal with Shakespeare and we'll talk about that but anybody writing after Milton had to deal with Milton in the 18th century people virtually couldn't write because of Milton that Milton had to be repressed that in order for for Augustine's like Pope and Dryden others to write Milton had to be pushed aside it wasn't until the romantics did Milton is again celebrated and he becomes obviously influential in the room in Wordsworth and Coleridge in Blake how do we see Blake's influenced by Milton he writes a poem called Milton right Thomas De Quincey found himself moved upon reading paradise paradise lost a step upwards ascending is upon Jacob's Ladder from earth to mysterious altitudes above the earth Ralph Waldo Emerson found in Milton a kindred spirit not only a great poet but the towering figure who with his power to inspire had an influence purely spiritual Coleridge found Milton's egotism to be a revelation of spirit now after the 19th century TS Eliot had enough of the romantics and also enough of Milton so Milton really became repressed every Milton is a lightning rod Milton becomes a lightning rod for who you are as a poet and then the whole question of well who is this Milton is he a radical is he a revolutionary we know that he participated in the execution of the king he argued for 1649 King Charles is he a regicide or is he the figure who Coleridge and De Quincey speak about as this spiritual figure now Milton had this contested legacy and people will still argue as Milton a heretic or is Milton an Orthodox Christian Blake had his own opinion on the matter there's some images of Paradise Lost I'd love I love this particular image a kind of somber face of Milton looking out from the darkness this is from already a 1695 edition of Paradise Lost you can even just see from the frontispiece that there's already an attempt to turn Milton into a classic poet this is a poem that's comparing Milton with Virgil and Homer with Virgil and Homer saying he's superior to both Virgil and Homer and we see this kind of classical this classical frame those who are trying to turn Milton into a classic poet had to contend with his reputation as a regicide and there were these two parts of Milton now Blake going back to Blake said the reason Milton wrote in fetters what are fetters he wrote we chains when he wrote of angels and God and a liberty one of Devils in hell is because he was a true poet and of the devil's party without knowing it so Blake says famously that Milton was of the devil's party without knowing it and again that debate Milton is heretic Milton as of the devil's party or Milton writing this Orthodox Christian poem that's starting at the end of the 17th century could be read with the King James Bible when you came from home from church or in the 18th century would be read as Sunday afternoon reading with Robinson Robinson Crusoe bye Defoe or again with the King James Bible so Milton occupies this very strange place philip pullman you know him he there was a movie that was just based upon his book called dark materials or dark matter he wrote Milton as of the devil's party and does know it so one of the questions we'll be asking is Milton of the devil's party or not again there's the sense of the enormous influence of Milton Harold Bloom writes of the anxiety of influence I think we spoke about blooms critical concept the anxiety of influence is is that some poets are so strong in blooms terms that they make it very difficult for poets to go on in Homer is a poet like that he what he does is so great that one wonders well how do you how do you continue so you become Sophocles you become Aeschylus you find some way of incorporating what Homer does so you can go into the future who is another strong poet in our we mentioned it already now we're in the period we're referring to Shakespeare Shakespeare is the strong poet from which Milton has to recover but everyone has to recover from Milton he is such a strong poet that again he makes poetry impossible were seemingly impossible for a century and then every poet after that century among the romantics is in some sense indebted to Milton I love this pair of quotations from Keats Keith says I've lately stood guard stood my guard against Milton life to him would be death to me I have lately stood my guard against Milton life to him would be death to me what does he mean meaning if Milton Caniff Milton continues as a poetic influence then there's no possibility for kids to write but on the other hand Milton Keats writes in a poem a pro interestingly entitled one wonders what Milton would think of this title Lyons on seeing a lock of Milton's hair so Keith is according Milton this iconic status we know how Milton feels about icons and idolatry Milton himself is being turned into an icon chief of organic numbers old scholar of the spheres thy spirit never slumbers but rolls about our ears forever and ever so which Keats is this is that the key to can't deal with the possibility of Milton where the Keats who here is Milton's poetic voice a voice that obviously informs key to his own voice so it really should be argued we should be spending a semester on Shakespeare and a semester is well on Milton because Milton's poetic influence is so powerful and we can hear his voice not only in later English poetry where the repression of his voice but also in American poetry and innocent some poets have said that Milton is the first American if it's not Milton who is the first American voice it's really Milton Satan because the Satanic voice as we'll see informs a voice of individualism of rebellion of Liberty so as an introduction to Paradise Lost I want to look at let's say four frames before we even get started and we'll start by looking at the invocation to Paradise Lost the first frame is the frame of classicism versus Puritanism now we've seen the tensions between the classical and the Puritan or what we would call and Milton comes at the end of our period between Renaissance and Reformation Renaissance is a period of going back to a classical past man is the measure of all things and I kind of graphic condition tradition man is maker of images a man-centered tradition a humanist tradition on the other hand our period is a period of reformation Puritanism a god centered universe an iconoclastic tradition if one can use such a phrase Milton comes at the end of this period and manifests or is the apotheosis of both of those traditions Milton is the great Reformation poet and the great Puritan poet I mean saying that Milton is a purin poet is is almost like an oxymoron why because Puritans should be iconoclasts but Milton is the great iconoclast and the great image maker we know in one of the books that I refer to often Milton at st. Paul's School when Milton was in high school when John Donne was the Dean of the school the Dean of st. Paul's the book this thick details what Milton learned and and I'm still catching up with what Milton know and you know eighth grade but he not only was proficient as we know in the classical tradition but also he was reading and versed in all appearance in Protestant and Puritan theology we know the earlier parts of his life were spent as a Protestant polemicist so how do we explain Paradise Lost can we talk about a Puritan poet we want to say that Milton is a schizophrenic I mean we spoke about the difference between Jack Dunn and the Dean of st. Paul's John John Donne and worried about the relationship one to the other with Milton that question becomes even more urgent how do we relate these two very different traditions in these two very different voices so when looking at Paradise Lost we'll think about the ways in which Milton deals with these two traditions how does he affiliate himself does he affiliate himself more to a Christian tradition or classical tradition because he affiliate himself more to a Christian tradition or toha break tradition we will come to that we'll come to that again in a moment so that's really one frame duvall look at the other is or another the second one is the problem of evil and what this will in this sense we'll be looking at Paradise Lost as a theodicy what are some of the other theodicies we've looked at so the Odyssey really initiates a tradition of theodicy the Oresteia is another in that tradition in the Hebraic tradition what is the the paradigmatic theodicy obviously job so we'll be looking at we'll be looking at Paradise Lost also as a theodicy what is the job that if the theodicy has to do what is the theodicy generically how would we define it and I think yeah so the brings up the question of good and evil we might ask well why does that why does that question of evil have to be asked I mean you might find on Wikipedia I wonder if this is the case but the dictionary definitions of theodicy often borrow from Milton to justify the ways of God to man so the question is well why do God's ways need to be justified why do they need to be justified but to better understand God so the reason I need to justify the ways of God to men is because I want to better understand the select of this kind of cognitive theoretical idealist activity justification sounds stronger than that doesn't it yeah so what leads to the experience of injustice our bad things happen to good people right another we could add to the list of theodicies we would have to put in parentheses impoverished theodicies Harold Kushner's why bad things happen to good people justifying God's ways to man what ways need to be justified bad things happen like what my twelve-year-old comes to me oh I have a hangnail why does that happen what it's a that is a question of the Odyssey it really is why am i suffering the question of suffering is the question of the the question really why is there evil in the world so they're there a couple of like let's let's pretend we're we're theologians let's put on our theological thinking caps for the moment and just think about like what are what are some of the the the one foot and let's stress one foot answers to the problem of evil I realize that many of you have solved this problem at your Shabbos table right after the cholans and no no offense but theologians for the past 2,000 years have been thinking about this question and you know it's not that your potato kugel was so good that it made you gave you the answer the thomas aquinas couldn't think of right so what let's just let's just map out the alternatives thomas aquinas eating potato kugel that's an idea right that's an idea or your xiaomi kögel even better you you're going that Lizzie is that on anyway so let's not get too distracted so what are the possibilities for theodicy i mean what are the possible ways of solving things uh well okay I mean no but I problem is there's evil in the world I mean before that question where does evil come from I mean I my assumptions are from the Hebraic tradition that God is all-knowing or good and all-powerful so those that we have to we have to those those are the axioms oh this is Shabbos table talk first right I need to know what is the source of evil so one possibility is since God is all good then I'll have to posit an alternative source of evil and that's what Agustin was arguing with Manicheans and Manicheans to get out of this problem argued for a divine source of good and a divine source of evil that's a good answer right meaning we don't want to impugn God's all goodness so we'll just create an alternate source of evil but what have we impute along the way God's all-powerful so we'll say that God is all-powerful and there's not an independent source of evil but what have we done the way we've impugn God's all goodness meaning because now God himself Milton calls him the author of all things is also the author of evil so either way we go we're going to have problems I realize that you guys may have thought of ways in our own Jewish tradition there are maimana daeun and other ways of thinking about this but let's just let's just keep our theological horizons clear and open that's the problem of the odyssey that milton is going to have to deal with but we'll come back to that this problem of theodicy that's another frame for thinking about Paradise Lost the problem of evil then there's the question of time tell me what you think about time and I'll tell you what you believe Milton in his Paradise Lost is obsessed with time conceptions of time of how you think about time are really intrinsic to how we think about the world passage from agustin kind of gets at the two notions of time let's call them two for the moment that are implicit in Paradise Lost Gustin writes who can deny that things to come are not yet sometimes you just want to say to these philosophers like Plato and Aristotle and Agustin like duh right who can deny the things to come are not yet that makes sense right yet already there is in mind an expectation of things to come where is there shift obviously with the yet what's the first vision of time if I had to render that graphically how would I render it the linear time is an arrow and on that arrow I'm at this point and where is the future at this point and it being at this point I don't know what's happening here if if I if I did among other things I could be very wealthy will Microsoft trade up tomorrow morning on the New York Stock Exchange or not if I were here I would know but I'm not I'm on this part of this line time is linear who can deny the things to come are not yet yet already Augustine says there is in mind an expectation of things to come what kind of time of notion of time is that how do I know it's going to be how do I have as a literary critic calls it a sense of an ending how do I know about this sense of an ending experience that maybe come in handy I'm not so sure is that where is that where is that where I know from a Christian tradition from a judeo-christian tradition how do I know I think I may have asked you what sound is a clock make tick tick tock excellent have we covered that already in class so clocks used to sound like that they used to sound like tick tock so how many parts are there in this mechanism so our photographer our cameraman says there are in another language there are two what anybody would want to consist - ah there's the there in between the tick and the talk there is the inter there is the interval where the duration in between there's the tick and the talk once the tick happens what do I know we'll follow I mean as Lela says there is an interval but the tick comes I know there's going to be a talk that is also a literary structure that is also the structure of history tick tock what's the tick in judeo-christian history what's the creation Bereshit bara elokim the beginning in the beginning what's the talk so really depending upon where you situate yourself revelation gula however you wanted to find that in the Christian tradition revelations so there's a big space between the tick and the talk that interval is that space and time that augustine refers to in the first sentence who can deny the things to come are not yet I have two versions of how I experience the world one is experiential things happen one thing after another after another yet I have a sense of an ending I have a sense of an ending where do I get that from I get that from revelation I know that from God revealing himself Bracey bara elokim that's the beginning he also force it foresees the end as you guys are already intimating and this is really an all tonic point so we'll take a my mana Dean digression what is the my mana Dean principle of faith about mashiac about the Messiah somebody help me out here an imam in Pomona Schliemann Bobby Adama Shia the Appel pichia hit hit mamaia and even though he tarries in colza anemic Okello bajalia gorgeous isn't it I believe with all my faith in the coming of the Messiah and even though he tarries with all this what is the antecedent of this the antigen of this is that interval what is really the this the suffering right with all this with all this waiting I wait for him every day so the two parts of the Augustan notions of time we're really doing total mater here the two notions of the Augustan parts of time the first is duration I don't know what's going to happen we all live in that world I don't know what's going to happen yet says Agustin already there is in mind an expectation of to come these two conceptions of time Thomas Brown was the weirdest person in the 17th century which is saying a lot rights is following which gives you a sense of how he's kind of mixing this time these senses of time up before Abraham was I am is the saying of Christ yet is it is is it true in some sense if I say it of myself for I was not only before myself but Adam that is in the idea of God and the decree of that Synod from all eternity and in this sense I say the world was before the creation and at an end before it had a beginning and thus was i dead before I was alive though my grave be England my dying place was paradise and even miscarried of me before she conceived of Cain so in the one hand you want to say let's get the straitjacket for old Sir Thomas Brown here right but on the other hand he's just importing this second notion of time and mixing up temper ality so his own personal life is so integrated with this life where the tick and the talk were already known beginning and ends so we'll see this took the one frame again that we'll be looking at in relationship to Paradise Lost is what are the notions of time does Milton have more than one how does he switch between these notions that we'll see in Augusta oops what's number four Christian Midrash I hope people are not horrified is this heretical is anybody going to write a letter to their parents Christian Midrash how is that possible somebody said that Paradise Lost is a retelling of a conventional story I think I think Lizzie that's an understatement right it's not only a conventional story it's a story of divine origin we said that Milton is a strong poet we might also say that Milton is the most hutzpah dick of poets it takes a lot of hutzpah to do this this is a story that has a good provenance right you're making it into a movie Milton it's been done right when Milton comes to you with his idea for Paradise Lost he had like 40 ideas for epics and he says I'm going to redo the story of Adam and Eve what do you tell him I don't think so right I mean it's already been done but Milton is doing more with this story and in a way the reason Midrash is a very useful category and talking about Paradise Lost is because Milton dysfunction is a kind of Midrash just well first of what is Midrash do how does it function why why do we why is this such a category as Midrash why does all why do the Jewish sages have any wise where why is there in the need for me dressed yeah Lizzy yeah so so it's an interpretive I think that's nice that Midrash I'm aren't I really like using the idea of Midrash am is interpretive stories and you're emphasizing the ethical but why do I where do I get these stories from where is there the license to add like this yes Malcolm ah now a critic of the last century era karabakh writes about the difference between a Greek and Hebrew tradition the Greek tradition he says is characterized by something called hypo taxes h YP OT ax is hypo taxes which is subordination where ever the relationship between one thing and another is very clear the Hebraic tradition he says is characterized by power taxes we have a board power taxes and hypo taxes power taxes is more a tradition of the juxtaposition of stories where sometimes the connections are not clear in the Greek tradition the connections our back says are always articulated with our buck maybe his terms maybe polemical maybe overstated but they're useful power taxes is the joining together of events without those connections articulated now we know that Abraham was the first Jew and that he rejected idolatry where do we know about Abraham in the shop and his I'm addressing how do the midrash how do the midrash this how did the sages have a license to do that there are gaps in the story there are what we would call the kunai openings and they use those openings to fill them they fill up those those gaps so we have a Midrash of tradition now Milton is coming to Paradise Lost which is at the beginning of what book how would he name it the Old Testament and the Old Testament maybe for his Christian purposes laden with meanings which are either problematic to him or not useful to him so we will find Milton using interestingly the method of Midrash in order to tell a Christian story that is he will fill in the gaps of the Old Testament story in a way to make that story more Christian now Milton is is complex because many of the mad draw many of the stories that he tells in book 4 of Paradise Lost in book 9 of Paradise Lost book 7 of Paradise Lost about the creation of Adam and Eve are actual madryn that he had it's unclear what his fluency in Hebrew was but the Perkey the rebellious ER were translated into Latin in 1643 and 1644 so he had them so he knew Jewish Midrash so Milton is simultaneously using Jewish Midrash but more importantly I'm saying is he's using Madras ik method Madras AG method is finding gaps and filling them in and filling them in in such a way to take what is a Jewish story again laden with particular meanings with resonances and Christianizing it other figures agustin among them would allegorically reinterpret aspects of the Old Testament Milton is going a step further he's rewriting it it's hutzpah right it's amazing credible so these are the four categories that are really useful for an introduction to Paradise Lost let's see how they play out if they do in the first 27 lines the invocation to Paradise Lost everybody's got a text if not we have it in front of us let's let's just read the whole thing and then we'll then we'll go back and look at it carefully okay a man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all our woe with loss of Eden till one greater man restore us in a grain regained the blissful seat sing heavenly news that on the secret hop top of or a bore of Sinai didst inspire that Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed in the beginning the most hutzpah decline in english poetry right in the beginning right aren't you borrowing something Milton how the heavens and earth rose out of chaos that's close by or of Zion hill the lightly more in sea low as brook that flowed fast by the Oracle of God I thence in book the aid to my adventurous song that with no middle flight intends to soar above the ionian mount while it pursues things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme and chiefly Thou O spirit that does prefer before all temples the upright heart and pure instruct me for thou knowest thou from the first was present and with mighty wings outspread dove-like sets brooding on the vast abyss and made it pregnant what in me is dark lumen what is low raised and support that to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence and justify the ways of God to men I thought I was channeling Kenneth Branagh there for a minute it's amazing them so let's let's let's look at this passage it may be in light of some of the things that we've we've already looked at or we've already mentioned of man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all era woe with loss of Eden what does paradise lost' begin with I said well transgression tre I mean we know the story yes transgression followed by mortality death loss whoa paradise loss begins with transgression loss death and suffering that is thinking in August in terms we begin in that first conception of time the interval between the tick and the talk the interval between the tick in the talk is characterized by death loss and suffering but in Milton as an Augustine there is at the very beginning of the poem and we wonder and we'll ask this why does Milton need to go on at the very beginning of the poem we have a sense of an ending till one greater man restore us who is that one greater man so he's already invoking the ending first five lines of Paradise Lost suffering loss death the sense of an ending redemption again we have to ask the question why does Milton go on the poem ends here I know everything now why do I need to continue so one greater man restore us and regain the blissful seat sing heavenly muse we asked before what are milton's affiliations how does he feel affiliate himself sing heavenly muse what is he signaling what is he screaming out Homer Virgil were educated people at bar-ilan we know I sing heavenly muse it's a no-brainer the invocation is a signal generically that Milton is affiliating himself with an older Greek and Latin tradition but we'll wonder how he's makes it more complicated sing heavenly muse that on the secret top interestingly secret of orb or of Sahni what sourabh no no clue no clue at orifice should we pronounce it differently ha Reve people carve right or AB or EV or of Sinai didst inspire that Shepherd we'll come back to that Shepherd who is the Shepherd here by the way Moses so in its simple meaning its Moses but let's keep that in mind who first taught the chosen seed in the beginning how the heavens and earth rose out of chaos or if see on Hilde lightly more and see lewis brook that flowed fast by the oracle of god i thence invoke thy aid to my adventurous song where as seen on hill that's another place we have we heard of that before i think if you go down the go turkish gaya and you wait outside and you get on the 400 bus you'll eventually get there right heart see own so milton is associating himself it's interesting I'm confused now right sing heavenly muse what are the affiliate what is the affiliation here sing heavenly muse is Greek and Sian Hill is Hebraic and the mention of the Oracle where do I find Oracle's not in beret sheet not in Genesis in a Greek context so Milton is simultaneously as affiliating himself with Hebraic and a Greek tradition remember we said this this kind of tension between classicism and Protestantism classicism and Christianity and Milton is forcing it at the very beginning of the poem I thence invoke thy aid to my adventurous song that with no middle flight intends to soar above the ionian mount while it pursues things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme why why with no middle flight why above the ionian mount is he flying JetBlue what why why is what is he what is he why is he above these mountains why above the ionian Mount whatever the Greeks represent whatever traditions they represent he's going to outdo them he's going to fly over them attempt things yet unattempted in prose or rhyme again talk about hutzpah milton is announcing i'm going to do something that is utterly different than anybody before I mean interesting that he does this in the context of affiliating him selves with the two major traditions in the West where the true cities in the West Athens in Jerusalem both of them are invoked at the very same time that they're invoked he I'm going to overdo it over go them and chiefly Thou O spirit that does prefer before all temples the upright heart and pure instruct me and we notice Milton's very Protestant gesture we've seen things like this in Herbert what is the Jews had their external temples what is primary for the Christians the heart when we spoke about the Reformation is this time of individuation of interior RT and here we see Milton asserting that sense of Protestant or Puritan interior T the heart being preferred to the temples instruct me for thou knowest thou from the first was present and with mighty wings outspread dove-like sat brooding on the vast abyss and made its pregnant in in line seventeen or eighteen that o spirit what is what does it refer to that o spirit pardon yeah you oh I don't care what Norton says what do we say what do we say so Sally Sheva said she thinks of the Holy Spirit right I mean that's an obvious resonance that's going to have for us now you guys probably know beret she's better than I do Milton says the Holy Spirit dove lights at present brooding sad brooding on the vast abyss and made its pregnant if the Holy Spirit in bration is the Holy Spirit Brooke a low-key America fete Alton a lame-o that's a reference to the Holy Spirit if you're Milton it is so we spoke about miltonic Christian Madras this is an example of it right that is the Old Testament is being updated so that raw Elohim which Jews understand is meaning ruah hello came for Milton is the person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit so again Milton taking the Old Testament narrative and through this let's say this midrashic method making it rendering it Christian what in me is dark woman Milton of course was blind while writing this poem what is lo raised and support that to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence and justify the ways of God to men so finally Milton at the end of the invocation not after having asserted the affiliation to the Greeks to the Jews asserts eternal Providence and says I'm going to write another theodicy just going back just to conclude our introduction to that Shepherd who is that Shepherd I mean he can be changeable that Shepherd can be a pastoral shepherd after all in a Greek environment we would expect shepherds to populate a pastoral world and in that sense the invocation is once again invoking a Greek antecedent the Shepherd is also obviously as you guys said Moses when I get to the end and the Holy Spirit who does the Shepherd transform into transforms into Jesus so like Milton's complex set of affiliations what is he doing he's using Greek Hebraic in order to write a distinctly Christian pump so these will be four frames that we'll use as we continue to read Paradise Lost

Channel: Bar-Ilan University - אוניברסיטת בר-אילן

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Keywords: Bar Ilan, Bar Ilan University, Paradise, Kolbrener, John, Lost, Milton, Bar Ilan University Organization

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Length: 38min 34sec (2314 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 10 2011