John Milton's Recourse to Old English: a Case-Study In
LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Vol. 1 Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History (2008) John Milton’s Recourse to Old English: A Case- Study in Renaissance Lexicography William E. Engel The University of the South Abstract John Milton’s use of Latin words and sentence structure has been well studied over the centuries. An indirect consequence of this has been to deflect scholarly attention away from the place of Old English in his poetic register. This paper argues that distinctively Anglo-Saxon terms were used at decisive moments in Milton’s poetry with startling—sometimes intentionally arresting—effects. Diverging from his usual practice, Milton uses Anglo-Saxon terms to call attention to specific themes that he highlighted as being absolutely fundamental to the human soul. Looking more closely at the Old English word inly (meaning “internal” or “secret”) will help shed light on the linguistic core of Milton’s approach to composition. Notions of interiority will be shown to be linked conceptually to his understanding of the origins of English and thus can serve as an index to his awareness of the ground of his own poetic craft and vocation as a poet-priest. Keywords John Milton, Anglo-Saxon, Old English, Paradise Regained, Paradise Lost, English Reformation, Protestant, theology, grace, soul, interiority, lexicography, etymology, epic, poetry, poetics, rhetoric, logic, parallel structure, antithetical parallel, chiasmus, mnemonic From the Outside In The thesis of this essay is that John Milton used words derived from Old English to convey special aspects of interiority that, in his estimation, were not brought out adequately by Latinate terms alone.
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