English 420—Milton
Dr. Michael
Bryson
Sierra Tower
832
818-677-5695
michael.bryson@csun.edu |
 |
Course
Description:
Is
authority—even
God’s
authority—to
be obeyed
without
question?
John Milton,
the most
famous
“Christian”
poet in the
English
language, has
a definite
answer.
No.
Milton
is perhaps the
greatest, yet
least-read and
least-understood
poet in
English
literature.
He was not a
stuffy Puritan
with a heart
of stone;
rather, he was
a
learned and
passionate
revolutionary
who demanded
freedom of
thought and
freedom from
political,
religious, and
social
tyranny.
Milton did not
suffer fools,
and he did not
suffer others
telling him
what to do,
what to think,
or how to
live. In this
course, we
will examine
the ideas of
the man who
helped bring
down a kingdom
and behead a
king, only
later to write
the great
poetry of
Satan,
God,
Adam, Eve, and
the
Fall of
Man. We
will read some
of his early
poetry, move
through a
quick
examination of
his
prose-writing
career, and
then ascend
the summit of
the great
epic, Paradise
Lost.
EVALUATION METHOD: Midterm essay, final essay. Each will account for 50% of the final grade.
EVALUATION STANDARDS: Essays will be graded on a +/- scale, using the usual A-F symbols. Essays must be written carefully, and revised before submission to me, not after. To achieve the best results, I encourage all of you to write your responses early, and then take a draft of your midterm and final essays into the Writing Center (https://www.csun.edu/undergraduate-studies/learning-resource-center/university-writing-center),
located in Oviatt Library on the 3rd Floor, East Wing. (Online tutoring is also available.) I will not
review drafts of essays, nor will essays be revisable after I grade
them. I expect you to pay close attention to details: do not misspell
character names, or fail to italicize play titles, or fail to pay
attention to basic citation mechanics and conventions of quotation (and
papers must quote relevant material from the plays as
evidence—leave summary to SparkNotes and all the other
less-than-desirable sources out there on the internet). See the
links below (in the assignment descriptions) for how to handle
quotation and citation.
GRADES:
An "A+" essay is perfect—a very rare thing.
An
"A" essay shows deep thought, attention to detail, and critical
thinking. It is well organized and flows naturally, leading the reader
through the subject easily. Sentences show variety and planning, and
paragraphs are carefully put together. The essay is engaging and
interesting to read, and the treatment of the subject is original and
intriguing. Clichés, triteness, and "stilted" language are absent.
Finally, an "A" essay displays
no mechanical, spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors—it has been written as carefully as a letter of application for a job, and has often been revised several times.
A "B" essay possesses most (but not all) of the qualities of an "A"
essay. The "B" essay typically shows a fair amount of thought,
attention to detail, and some evidence of critical thinking. It may
have slight organizational problems;
it may have a few mechanical, grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors, or it may employ clichés or trite language in a few places.
A "C" essay is an average effort. It displays most (but not all) the
qualities of a "B" essay, with additional problems in thought,
organization, and expression. Triteness or clichéd language may be
present, or the treatment of the subject, though competent, may be
uninteresting or unoriginal. Mechanical and/or spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors are a consistent problem. The essay is understandable and the reasoning adequate.
A "D" essay is below average. In a "D" essay, difficulties with
structure, organization, or content make the essay difficult to follow.
The treatment of the subject may be inadequate, or the reasoning
seriously flawed. Problems with mechanics, grammar, punctuation, and spelling interfere seriously with the essay's effectiveness.
An "F" essay is one in which all of the problems listed in the "D" essay are severe enough to make the paper incomprehensible.
An essay that is
plagiarized, or simply not submitted at all, will receive a grade of zero.
In general, the grading scale will be as follows:
|
Essays
A+ 100%
A 95%
A- 90%
B+ 88%
B 85%
B- 80%
C+ 78%
C 75%
C- 70%
D+ 68%
D 65%
D- 60%
F 50%
Work
plagiarized or not submitted 0%
|
Course
A 92.5-100
A- 90-92.4
B+ 87.5-89.9
B 82.5-84.9
B- 80-82.4
C+ 77.5-79.9
C 72.5-77.4
C- 70-72.4
D+ 67.5-69.9
D 62.5-67.4
D- 60-62.4
F 0-59.9 |
READING
LIST:
John
Milton:
Complete Poems
and Major
Prose
ed. Merritt
Hughes
Assignments:
1) Midterm
essay exam,
around
1500
words in
response to
essay questions.
You will have
two weeks to
work on the exam
out of class.
The midterm will
be distributed
on 10/7 and be
due via Canvas
submission by
11:59 PM on
10/21.
2) Final paper,
approximately
3000 words on
a topic of
your choosing;
I will provide a
list of
suggested essay
topics, or you
may choose your
own)
This
essay will be
a researched
argument paper
that makes use
of secondary
sources.
Print
is an
excellent
thing, of
course—books
are still the
coin of the
realm in the
highest
reaches of
humanities
scholarship,
but journal
articles are
often more
immediate in
terms of what
is going on at
the moment.
Have a look at
the CSUN
library's page
outlining
electronic
resources for
English.
Quotations
from the works
you deal
with—and
quotations
from secondary
sources—should
follow MLA
format.
The final essay
will be
distributed on
12/9 and be due
via Canvas
submission by
11:59 PM on
12/16.
Statement
on Academic
Dishonesty:
Plagiarism is
a serious
offense that
will be
treated
seriously.
Please read
the CSUN
policy here.
Weekly
Preview:
Week 1
(8/26):
Introductions;
Milton’s Early
Ambition—Sonnet
VII (Sonnet
numbers are
keyed to the
Hughes
edition--other
editions may
vary).
Week 2 (9/2):
Off for Labor
Day
Week 3 (9/9):
Early
Poetic Successes
and Failures—On
the Morning of
Christ's
Nativity,
The Passion, L'Allegro,
Il Penseroso.
Theological
Arguments for
Liberty and
Against
Hierarchies
that Separate
Humankind from
the Divine—Of
Education,
The Reason
of Church
Government (Preface
and Chapters
1-7 of Book
1).
Week
4 (9/16):
The
Loss of a
Schoolmate,
Growing
Commitment to
Liberty, and
the Idea of
Companionate
Marriage—Lycidas,
Sonnet VIII,
Sonnet XI,
Sonnet XII, Doctrine
of Discipline
and Divorce
(up to book
II)
Week
5 (9/23):
Freedom
to Write and
Worship
According to
One’s Own
Conscience—Areopagitica,
On the New
Forcers of
Conscience,
Sonnet XVI,
Sonnet XVIII.
Week
6 (9/30):
Milton
the Regicide
(The Right to
be Free From
the Tyranny of
Kings)—Tenure
of Kings and
Magistrates.
Week
7 (10/7):
Milton’s
Work for the
Republic—The
Second Defense
(excerpts),
Sonnet XIX,
Sonnet XXII,
Sonnet XXIII
(Midterm essay
exam
distributed—due
10/21).
Week 8 (10/14):
“Of
man’s first
disobedience,”
and Angelic
Rebellion:
“Better to
reign in Hell,
than serve in
Heaven.” Why?—Paradise
Lost Books
1 and 2.
Week
9 (10/21):
Imagining
God as a King,
and Male and
Female in the
Garden of
Eden—Is Adam
and Eve’s a
Companionate
Marriage?—Paradise
Lost Books
3 and 4
(Midterm essay
exam due).
Week
10 (10/28):
War
in Heaven:
Rebellion
Against a
King—Paradise
Lost Books
5 and 6.
Week 11 (11/4):
The
Structure of
the Universe;
Food and the
Ascent to
Heaven?—Paradise
Lost Books
7 and 8.
Week 12 (11/11): Off
for Veteran's
Day
Week 13 (11/18):
The
Fall: A
Setup?—Paradise
Lost
Book
9 and 10.
(For an
inside look at
my take on the
"Fall," and
one of the
arguments that
deal with it in
Milton
scholarship, see
here.)
Week 14 (11/25):
History of the
World, Part One:
A Paradise
Within Thee,
Happier Far—Paradise
Lost Book
11-12
Week
15 (12/2):
Off. Instructor
out of town.
Week
16 (12/9):
Discovering the
Divine or the
Monstrous Within—Paradise
Regained;
Samson Agonistes
(Final
paper due by
11:59
PM on 12/16 by
Canvas
submission.)
Note
on
Web Resources
The
best overall
web resource
for
Milton is
Thomas Luxon's
Milton
Reading
Room.
See especially
his links to
other
web resources,
and to
print
scholarship. For
the prose
works, you may
also want to
look at my own
site,
Summary
and Analysis
of Milton's
Prose.
Also
have a look at
the CSUN
library's page
outlining
electronic
resources for
English.
Curious
students might
also want to
have a look at
the
Yale
Open Course on
Milton
delivered by
John Rogers.
We are each
members of a
loosely-defined
group within
Milton studies
known as
The
New Milton
Criticism,
and his
insights are
always sharp
and valuable.
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