17th Century-Milton and Donne

John Donne and John Milton are writers of which century?

17th century

What are the three religions of this time period?

roman catholic, anglicans/church of 1816, puritans

What was John Donne's religion?

born and raised catholic, but converted to Anglican to get ahead (eventually became priest)

What was John Milton's religion?

puritan

How did Donne's brother died?

in prison for harboring a Catholic priest

Who did Donne marry?

daughter of Sir George More, Anne More-eloped

Who did Sir George More imprison to get back at John Donne after his marriage to Anne?

John Donne, parson who performed ceremony, and man who gave Anne away

How was Donne's marriage fruitful?

literal=12 children (7 lived, 5 died and Anne in childbirth)

figuritive=Donne's poetry got better after he married her

What was Donne appointed as?

Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral

What are two strange facts about the end of Donne's life?

1. toward the end of his life, as an ill man, he had a portrait painted in his winding sheet upon which he watched constantly

2. He preached his own funeral sermon a few days before his death

metaphysical poetry

uses philosophical imagery to illustrate and define emotional and intellectual adventures:

uses philosophy to talk about emotional and intellectual adventures

six sources of imagery metaphysical poets use

astronomy, astrology, alchemy, mathematics, Aristotle (body and soul), Christian tradition/theology

What were the characteristics that made Donne's poetry popular?

inquisitive, cynical, disenchanted tone, psychological realism, intellectual complexity

Who was the greatest poet of the 20th century?

TS Eliot

When did Donne's poetry become popular?

after World War I when TS Eliot brought interest to him

Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet

8 lines for problem (1 octate, has to rhyme ABBA ABBA), 6 lines for conclusion (1 sestet), iambic pentameter

characteristics of Donne's poetry/metaphysical poetry

lyrical poetry, very personal/colloquial, conceits, philosophical speculation, Petrarchan/Italian sonnet form

What are the two reasons that Donne was negative toward women in love?

1) He was a loser when it came to women/love/relationships2) Balance of idealism and realism of women in love

What were the two types of poetry Donne wrote?

Songs and Sonnets, Holy Sonnets

Songs and Sonnets

Positive: "The Good Morrow"

Negative: "Song" and "Woman's Constancy"

Erotic: "The Flea"

sometimes positive about women, mostly negative though

Holy Sonnets

X: "Death be Not Proud"

XIV: "Batter My Heart"

sometimes positive, mostly negative (thinks he's too sinful to be loved by God)

"The Good Morrow"

positive

-17th century way of saying good morning

-written to Anne waking up in bed and saying how much he loves her

-3 stanzas, 7 lines per stanza (777, perfect perfect perfect)

-past, present, and future

-bedroom is _____ its the whole world, because of love we are one world

"Song"

negative

-first stanza is asking reader to do impossible things

-second stanza asks to go on a long journey and fine a true and fair (beautiful and faithful) woman=implying that it doesn't exist

-third stanza says if you find one, let him know so he can make a pilgrimage to find her, but it doesn't matter because by the time he gets there she'll have cheated a few times

"Woman's Constancy"

negative

-describes a hookup, man asks when you leave me tomorrow what are you going to say

-gives excuses we still use to break up today

-death ends marriage (sleep is minor death, hook-up is minor marriage)

-so sleep ends hook-up

How was lunatic used in Woman's Constancy

as changeable as the moon + crazy

"The Flea"

erotic

-in this time period it was believed blood was mixed in sex

-man wants to mix blood but she wants to preserve her virginity

-he gets a flea to bite them both and argues their blood is already mixed so they can go ahead and do it

-she wants to squash the bug

-he says there's 3 lives in this flea

-murder (killing him), suicide (killing herself), sacrilege (killing flea)

-third stanza she kills it

-3 stanzas, 3 stages of sex (foreplay, leading up to ejaculation, and ejaculation)

-you'll lose just as much honor when we have sex than you did when you squashed the flea (none)

Holy Sonnet X: "Death Be Not Proud"

-Dunne's most famous Holy Sonnet

-written to death, saying it didn't get him yet

-remember he's an Anglican priest, so death isn't the end: eternal rest for the body and eternal life for the mind

-telling death not to be proud because it's not the end

-personification (death is he)

-paradox (death will die when he dies)

-death is a slave to chance/fate (dying by accident), kings (executions and wars), and desperate men (shootings and stuff)

personification

the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea

paradox

a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true

Holy Sonnet XIV: "Batter My Heart"

-3 conceits: Tinker, captured town, captured woman

-Tinker was someone who mended pots and pans-in this poem the tinker is God, Donne is the captured town and captured woman

-telling God to batter his way into Donne's heart (like fighting way into a captured town)

-ask God to rape him (like a captured woman)

-refers to God as a three-personed God (father son holy spirit)-he's betrothed to Satan, so break the betrothal and capture/ravish him

-says that God is too easy on him.

Who is the third best writer in British literature?

John Milton

Milton's childhood

-came from a Puritan background, but his father was a musician

-his family valued education (went to St. Paul's School in London, got BA and MA)

What are 2 reasons Milton was inclined towards Puritan party?

1) Church of England too Catholic

2) Purify the church from within through scripture principles

What was Milton's childhood nickname?

The Lady of Christ's

English Civil War

-royalists/cavaliers vs. puritans/round heads

-royalists: pro monarchy (Charles I)

-puritans: pro parliament (Oliver Cromwell)

What position did Oliver Cromwell gain after the death of Charles I?

protector of the Commonwealth

What was Milton's position?

Latin Secretary of Commonwealth

What were Milton's two duties as Latin Secretary of Commonwealth?

correspondence with other governments and propaganda

Who takes over after Cromwell dies?

Cromwell's son Richard (he's incompetent)

What happens in 1600?

restoration (Charles II returns to throne and Milton faces imprisonment)

Who were Milton's three wives?

1) Mary Powell (father - royalist)

2) Katharine Woodcock (his great love)

3) Elizabeth Minshull (convenience - he was blind)

three monumental works of Milton

1. Paradise Lost (epic, blank verse) pride- eating the fruit

2. Paradise Regained- only Jesus can regain paradise (J says no to Satan's 3 temptations)

3. Samson Agonistes

When I Consider How My Light is Spent

-agonizing

-about blindness

-octate angry at God (how do you expect me to write when you took away my eyesight)

-Does God expect me to do the day labor of writing when he took away my eye sight?

-sestet spoken by personification of patience

-irony, saying he can't right anymore but wrote a sonnet

To Mr. Cyriak Skinner Upon His Blindness

-triumphant

-about blindness

-Cyriak Skinner was Milton's pupil and grew up to be a royal

-Octate: talking to Cyriak like they're best friends, saying that the time is flying

-Sestet: Writes what keeps him going, least important to most important (Latin secretary and God)

What does Masque mean?

play

On The Late Massacre In Piedmont

-political poem

-brutal killing of 1700 protestants on Easter Sunday

-Waldensians/Vaudois (group of protestants that were massacred)

-asked God to turn Catholics into protestants

3 things that mock the catholic church:

1) Pope is triple tyrant

2) Babylonian Woe

3) Mocking statues

Who wanted to reform the church?

-Francis of Assisi: with Pope,

-Peter Waldo: without pope, heretic

characteristics of an epic poem

-fantastic hero

-fantastic battle with an equal opponent

-long narrative poem

-language involving cateloging

-digression

How many books are in paradise lost?

12 (originally published in 10 books in 1667) there was 12 tribes of Israel in Old Testament and 12 disciples in New Testament

What was Milton's original intention?

an epic using King Arthur as a subject to glorify England, changed mind and wrote about wider significance (spans whole human race and glorifies not a nation but God)

When did Milton begin writing Paradise Lost?

we aren't sure, had to be after his blindness (1651-1652), dictated to his Amanuense

What is Paradise Lost written in?

blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter (Shakespeare)

2 artistic problems of Book 1 of Paradise Lost

1) presents Christian notion of the world in classical trappings

2) Has to have a conflict/battle with an attractive Satan (critics feel Satan dominates and Milton defeats his own end and Satan becomes more interesting than God)

How did Milton write his poems?

his daughters

What is Milton's topic

man's first disobedience

Milton's two purposes

1. assert eternal providence

2. justify the ways of God to men

Who is 'providence' referring to when Milton says "Assert Eternal Providence"

God

What is the first line of the first stanza?

Milton's subject (man's first disobedience)

Characters (devils)

1. Satan: adversary

2. Beelzebub: Second in command-Lord of the Flies

3. Mammon: oversees the construction of Pandemonium (an exact replica of St. Peter's Basilica)

What does Satan mean?

adversary or enemy

What word did Milton invent?

Pandemonium=all demons, chaos

palace for all the devils to live in in Hell

3 shots at Catholic church

1. Pandemonium is exact replica of St. Peter's Basilica

2. Bees-less important devils shrink so they can all fit in the pandemonium

3. Secret Conclave - devils elect Satan as their Pope after they meet at secrete conclave

Basilica

Pope's church

How was paradise lost?

Pride

What is Satan like in Book 1?

he's still a glorious, noble creature that looks like an archangel

What is first digression in Paradise Lost?

Milton believes in predestination, God lets Satan off the island out of Justice (Satan screws himself tempting Adam and Eve) and Mercy

What is predestination?

lives were planned out for us

The mind is its own place, an in itself can make Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven

How you perceive it is how its gonna be, your mindset determines the reality

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven

Satan wants to be the boss in Hell than to serve God in Heaven

3 insults Satan uses when learning to be the leader devil

1) You think you're in Heaven, trying to sleep all day? (Doesn't work)

2) Hey you trying to suck up? (Doesn't work)

3) You better move it or lose it. (Does work)

What civilization are Osiris, Isis, and Orus God's in?

Egypt

What is a muse?

writer's inspiration

What animal does Satan take form of to tempt Eve?

first toad then snake

What is the ratio of supporters between God and Satan?

Satan has 1/3, God has 2/3

What is Guerilla warfare?

small groups against large using sabotaging, sneak attacks, etc.

What demon oversees Pandemonium?

Mammon

Who started building St. Peter's Basilica?

Pope Urban VIII