HENA0363AU Engelsk - Frit emne: Milton’s Paradise Lost and the epic tradition

Milton’s Paradise Lost and the epic tradition

Of all major literary genres, it is the epic that most obviously and self-consciously flaunts its indebtedness to antiquity. Epic poetry is governed by a wide array of thematic, stylistic and narrative conventions that can be traced back to classical literature, and in this course we will examine the ways in which these conventions are used – and occasionally challenged – by Milton in Paradise Lost.
                     Our main focus will be on the linguistic and stylistic obstacles that Milton had to overcome in order to compose a genuinely epic poem in English. With Paradise Lost Milton introduces an entirely new way of composing verse in English, in which a strict (yet rhymeless) metre is combined with daring, almost licentious, syntax and highly idiosyncratic diction. We will discuss and analyze the literary origins and effects of this so-called ‘grand style’ in Paradise Lost, not only in relation to the epic tradition, but also in relation to the subsequent reception of Milton as a poet.
                       In addition to reading the 1674 version of Paradise Lost in its entirety, we will also read excerpts (in translation) from a number of earlier poems, among them Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Ariosto’s Orlando furioso and Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata. These excerpts will be made available in the form of a short compendium that can be downloaded via Absalon.