DOCSLIB.ORG

Milton's Literary Reputation During the Victorian Era. Calvin Huckabay Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Milton's Literary Reputation During the Victorian Era. Calvin Huckabay Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1955 Milton's Literary Reputation During the Victorian Era. Calvin Huckabay Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Huckabay, Calvin, "Milton's Literary Reputation During the Victorian Era." (1955). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 8147. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/8147 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MILTON*S LITERARY REPUTATION DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Meohanioal College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Calvin Huokabay B. A ., Louisiana College, 1949 M, A,, Tulane University, 1950 June, 1956 UMI Number: DP69525 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI DP69525 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code uest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT MANUSCR IPT THESES [* NP UR L i SHE P THESE9 SUBMITTED FOR THE MASTER'S A NO DOCTOR'S DEGREES A.VD DEPOSITED I N THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY L ID R A RY ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION. USE OF ANY THESIS IS LIMITED BY THE RIGHTS OF THE AUTHOR. D IBL I 0GRAPH1CAL REFERENCES MAY BE NOTED, BUT PASSAGES MAY NOT B E ’COPIED UNLESS THE AUTHOR HAS GIVEN PERMISSION. C r e d i t must be given in s u b s e q u e n t w r i t t e n or p u b l i s h e d w o r k . A LIBRARY WH1XH BORROWS THIS THESIS FOR USE BY JTS CLIENTELE \£L» IS EXPECTED TO MAKE SURE 'THAT THE BORROWER IS AWARE OF THE ABOVE RESTRICT IONS . LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY I I 9 — A controversies* Later critics made allowances for Milton1s BuppoBed inhumanity to man, and a few brought forth documentary proof to show that % he had been kind and gentle* The extent of Milton's Puritanism was debated, but no appreciable degree of agreement was reached* Some critics were beginning to interpret him as a Christian humanist* Milton's reputation, as a poet remained stable. The later critics ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to trace Milton's literary reputation in England from the appearance of Macaulay's Essay on Milton (1826) to the publication of Walter Raleigh's Milton (1900)• I maintain as a fundamental premise that Milton remained one of England's "accepted" writers throughout the period, that there is no Justification for the idea that the Miltonio tradition deolined during those years. Victorian scholarship on Milton alone attests to his standing as a man of letters. His works were edited and re-edited. The Victorians wrote more than a score of critical biographies of Milton, and his poetry was always a lively topic of disoussion in the Journals. Political analysts drew upon his prestige as a writer to strengthen their arguments for reform bills. Some scholars studied Milton's source materials ex­ tensively. Several Milton concordances and bibliographies were compiled. His prosody was analyzed in detail. In what amounted to a reinterpretation of Milton the man, there was 4 \ a shift from Milton idolatry to a more critioal attitude. Several critics disparaged the man because of his domestic difficulties and political controversies. Later critics made allowances for Milton's supposed inhumanity to man, and a few brought forth documentary proof to show that he had been kind and gentle. The extent of Milton's Puritanism was debated, but no appreciable degree of agreement was reaohed. Some critics were beginning to interpret him as a Christian humanist. Milton's reputation as a poet remained stable. The later critics veered away from the eighteenth-oentury idea that Paradise Lost Is a devotional poem, but no one interpreted oorrectly its central meaning. There was universal agreement that the metrios of Paradise Lost exhibit flawless excellence. The late Victorians neglected the oontent of the epic, Satan's position in Paradise Lost was debated throughout the era. The oritios neglected Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes, When they mentioned these poems, they usually compared them unfavorably with Paradise Lost. Only one critic came close to an interpretation of the central meaning of Samson Agonistes; the others merely noticed parallels between Samson and the poet, L*Allegro, II Penseroso, Comug, and Lyoidas were never studied in any detail, but they were often mentioned in glowing terms. In short, Milton's reputation as a poet was maintained beoause of the recognised merits of Paradise Lost, Milton's polemical pamphlets received even less attention than the shorter poems. The early Victorians did not discuss the prose as lit­ erature, They either tried to show the correctness of Milton's ideas or attempted to prove that he had been in error. After 1855, however, critics became conscious of Milton's prose style and oited the purple passages for their poetic language. In 1900, commentators were beginning t. to appreciate the timeless truths and high ideals presented in the pamphlets, Milton the philosopher fared well during the Victorian era. It is true that some critics thought that ParadiBe Lost had become a monument to dead ideas, but they were in the minority. The late Victorian years witnessed, of oourse, a reassessment of traditional values, and It was quite natural that the relevanoe of Paradise Lost as a philosophical poem be questioned* De Dootrlna Christiana neither added to nor subtracted from Milton’s reputation as a thinker* Most of the oritios over-emphasised the here­ sies of that work* It is significant that with the exception of Channing and other Unitarians, De Doctrina Christiana was never lauded as a liberal Christian document* By 1900, many writers had noticed the value of the treatise as a commentary on Paradise Lost. At the close of the Victorian era there was little or no agreement on several aspects of Milton’s personality and works; the general disa­ greement reflected the complexity of almost every problem involving the poet* % ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my appreoi&tion to all those who have enoouraged me in the pursuit of this study• Mr. Esmond L. Mari 11 a, who directed it, has been most helpful in his suggestions and guidance. I am also indebted to Messrs. Thomas A. Kirby, John Hasard Wildman, and Walter C. Richardson for their advice. The staff of the Hill Memorial Library have been most cooperative, but Misses Ruth Walling, Anni* B. Colson, and Marjorie Karlaon of the Reference Department deserve speoial thanks. Finally, I desire to acknowledge the patience, fortitude, and under­ standing of my wife during our years at Louisiana State University. Without her help, this study could not have been written. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION .................................................. 1 CHAPTER I. A SURVEY OF VICTORIAN SCHOLARSHIP ON MILTON ............. 11 II. THE REINTERPRETATION OF MILTON THE M A N ................ 65 III. THE VICTORIAN EVALUATION OF MILTON'S P O E T R Y ................ 113 IV. THE VICTORIAN EVALUATION OF MILTON'S P R O S E ................ 203 V. THE REINTERPRETATION OF MILTON THE PHILOSOPHER .... 232 CONCLUSION ......................................... 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 300 VITA ...................................... ........................ 313 iii IHTRCDUC TION John Mil-bon has always been a controversial figure. Writing in 1856, an anonymous essayist said, "Those of the great dramatist alone excepted, Milton's writings have been the object of more conjecture, praise, and detraction, of more worthless and elegant criticism, than _1 those of any other English poet. The purpose of this study is to /' / examine a part of the criticism which the anonymous writer has in mind, and we shall limit our inquiry to criticism that was p^dduced in Great Britain during the Victorian era. During his own lifetime, Milton was praised by men like Dryden and Marvell; conversely, he was despised by men like Roger L*Estrange and the author of The Censure of the Rota. The men who lived during the century following Milton's death could not reach a verdict on the man and his works. The illustrious Samuel Johnson wrote a scathing attack on the man, but he was immediately challenged by scores of critics, to such an extent that his Life of Milton had repercussions throughout the nineteenth century. During that hundred years Milton remained a figure of controversy. Like the neo-Jlugustans, the Roman­ tics and Victorians could agree, for the most part, on the merits of the blind bard's poetry as a form of art; they never agreed, however, on the validity of the ideas expressed in Milton's poetry and prose. ^"Keightley*s Life of Milton,” North American Review, LXXXII (1856), 388-404. Some critics, following Johnson's argument, were continually sug­ gesting that Milton had not been very pleasant as a human being. In our own century, Milton has had his defenders and his detractors.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • English Identity in the Writings of John Milton
    The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Honors Theses Honors College Fall 12-2012 English Identity in the Writings of John Milton Hannah E. Ryan University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Ryan, Hannah E., "English Identity in the Writings of John Milton" (2012). Honors Theses. 102. https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/102 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi English Identity in the Writings of John Milton by Hannah Elizabeth Ryan A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Department of English November 2012 ii Approved by _____________________________ Jameela Lares Professor of English _____________________________ Eric Tribunella, Chair Department of English ________________________________ David R. Davies, Dean Honors College iii Abstract: John Milton is an essential writer to the English canon. Understanding his life and thought is necessary to understanding his corpus. This thesis will examine Milton’s nationalism in several major and minor poems as well as in some of Milton’s prose. It will argue that Milton’s nationalism is difficult to trace chronologically, but that education is always essential to Milton’s national vision of England.
    [Show full text]
  • Milton's Paradise Lost
    Milton’s Paradise Lost: Previously Unrecognized Allusions to the Aurora Borealis, and a Solution to the Comet Conundrum in Book 21 clifford j. cunningham National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand This article reveals that John Milton employed an allusion to the aurora borealis in book 6 (79–83) of Paradise Lost, unrecognized in more than three centuries of scholarly analysis. Two other likely allusions, and one certain, to the aurora have also been identified. This research casts doubt on the long-held belief, made popular by the astronomer Edmund Halley (1656–1742), that no notable aurora was visible in England in the seventeenth century. After examining an overlooked note by the English historian William Camden (1551–1623), this article explores the possibility that Milton actually saw an aurora. A solution is also presented here to the long-standing conundrum of the comet near the “Arctic” constellation Ophiuchus in book 2 (707–11) of Paradise Lost. Cet article révèle que John Milton fait allusion à une aurore boréale au sixième livre (79–83) de Paradise Lost, allusion qui est restée ignorée pendant plus de trois siècles de lectures savantes. Une autre allusion à une aurore boréale, ainsi que deux autres, probables, ont été identifiées. Cette re- cherche remet en question l’opinion tenue de longue date, et circulée par l’astronome Edmund Halley (1656–1742), qu’aucune véritable aurore boréale ne put être observée en Angleterre au dix-septième siècle. Grâce à l’analyse d’une note, longtemps négligée, de l’historien anglais William Camden (1551–1623), cet article explore la possibilité que Milton ait pu réellement observer une aurore boréale, ce qui pourrait alors résoudre l’énigme de la mention, au deuxième livre du Paradise Lost (707–711), d’une comète près de la constellation « arctique » Ophiuchus.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to the 1645 Volume: Poems of Mr. John Milton
    C01.qxd 8/18/08 14:44 Page 1 Introduction to the 1645 Volume: Poems of Mr. John Milton In 1645, Milton published most but not all of the poems he had composed by that date. The publisher Humphrey Moseley had been bringing out volumes of lyric poetry by royalist poets such as Edmund Waller, and it was likely, as he claims in the intro- duction to the volume, that he approached Milton and encouraged him to publish his verse. Moseley also arranged for the engraved portrait of Milton by William Marshall (see Figure 1), beneath which Milton, who considered the engraving unflattering, placed a witty Greek epigram ridiculing it in a language neither Marshall nor Moseley under- stood. Unlike most contemporary poets, Milton neither wrote a preface, solicited commendatory poems, nor acknowledged a patron. He organized his volume more or less chronologically, thus displaying his poetic development, but also carefully grouped together poems of similar themes and genres. With the Latin tag from Virgil’s Eclogues on the title page (“Baccare frontem / Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro” – “Bind my forehead with foxglove, lest evil tongues harm the future Bard”), he promises future poems on even greater themes. In the Latin ode sent with a replacement copy of the volume to John Rouse, librar- ian of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Milton describes the 1645 volume as a “twin book, rejoicing in a single cover, but with a double title page.” The first section of the volume presents his vernacular poems (mostly in English, but also including a mini-sonnet sequence in Italian), and concludes with A MASK Presented At LUDLOW- Castle.
    [Show full text]
  • The Journal of New Latin Poetry
    VATES The Journal of New Latin Poetry Issue 4, Autumn/Winter 2011-12 CONTENTS Editorial 2 Carmina Latina After the Raid (Brad Walton) 3 2 First World War Poems (Paul Murgatroyd) 7 Webicus Bacchus (Joseph Tusiani) 9 2 Carmina (J. Turner Brakeley) 10 Eoan Airs (Massimo Scorsone) 12 Uxor Tiresiae (Paul Murgatroyd) 26 Pro Senectute Mea (Joseph Tusiani) 29 Laus Bacchi (Raul Lavalle) 30 3 Carmina ex Hobbito Illo (Mark Walker) 32 Features Toiling Up Parnassus (Barry Baldwin) 37 Verba Inaudita (Mark Walker) 40 Book Review: Musa Pedestris (Barry Baldwin) 46 De gustibus non est disputandum 48 Contributors 50 Edited by Mark Walker email: [email protected] Vates is a Pineapple Publications publication Vates Issue 4 Editorial Welcome to this fourth edition of Vates, the free journal of new Latin poetry. I‟m delighted that we are reaching an ever wider and increasingly international audience. Poetry in this issue comes from Italy, Argentina the USA, Canada and the UK. We have readers in Europe, North America, Jamaica, Australia … and the generous contributions from our poets around the globe shows no sign of slowing down, either – quite the opposite, in fact, which is a gratifying indication that we must be doing something right! One issue that prompted me to set up this journal in the first place was the problem of finding a readership for new Latin verse: „Who reads Latin Poems written in these days!‟ wrote Walter Savage Landor‟s exasperated brother in 1820, scarcely able to believe his brother would waste his talents on such a quixotic endeavour, and the situation can hardly be said to have improved since then.
    [Show full text]
  • L'allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas
    L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas John Milton Project Gutenberg Etext of L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas, by John Milton Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! Please take a look at the important information in this header. We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and further information is included below. We need your donations. L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas by John Milton January 1995 [Etext #397] *****Project Gutenberg Etext of Four Poems by John Milton***** *****This file should be named miltp10.txt or miltp10.zip***** Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, miltp11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, miltp10a.txt Scanned by Edward A. Malone We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance of the official release dates, for time for better editing. The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes in the first week of the next month.
    [Show full text]
  • Edward Jones
    Edward Jones Events in John Milton’s life Events in Milton’s time JM is born in Bread Street (Dec 9) 1608 Shakespeare’s Pericles debuts to and baptized in the church of All great acclaim. Hallows, London (Dec 20). Champlain founds a colony at Quebec. 1609 Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is performed late in the year or in the first months of 1610, most likely indoors at the Blackfriars Theatre. The British establish a colony in Bermuda. Moriscos (Christianized Muslims) are expelled from Spain. Galileo constructs his first telescope. The Dutch East India Company ships the first tea to Europe. A tax assessment (E179/146/470) 1610 Galileo discovers the four largest confirms the Miltons residing in moons of Jupiter (Jan 7). the parish of All Hallows, London Ellen Jeffrey, JM’s maternal 1611 Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is grandmother, is buried in All performed at the Globe Theatre Hallows, London (Feb 26). (May). The Authorized Version (King James Bible) is published. Shakespeare’s The Tempest is performed at court (Nov 1). The Dutch begin trading with Japan. The First Presbyterian Congregation is established at Jamestown. JM’s sister Sara is baptized (Jul 15) 1612 Henry, Prince of Wales, dies. and buried in All Hallows, London Charles I becomes heir to the (Aug 6). throne. 1613 A fire breaks out during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII and destroys the Globe Theatre (Jun 29). 218 Select Chronology Events in John Milton’s life Events in Milton’s time JM’s sister Tabitha is baptized in 1614 Shakespeare’s Two Noble Kinsmen All Hallows, London (Jan 30).
    [Show full text]
  • Gadaleto Michael Their Solitary Way Marital Reconciliation in The
    “Their Solitary Way”: Marital Reconciliation in the Conversion Scene of Paradise Lost by Michael Gadaleto A thesis presented for the B. A. degree with Honors in The Department of English University of Michigan Spring 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Michael Gadaleto To Drew, Jim, Becky, and Mike The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many hundreds of people all over the greater Ann Arbor area who deserve my thanks, be it for servicing my ever stronger caffeine addiction or for patiently listening while I pontificated about unification, upward mobility or humiliation, words so deadly dull that they strike fear into all hearts but that of the Miltonist. I will limit myself, however, to acknowledging those few people without whom this thesis would not exist. First and foremost I would like to thank Professor Ralph Williams. The only thing more thrilling than his agreement to become my advisor was the discovery of his boundless generosity and kindness. His enthusiasm for Milton and for learning has been infectious, and I deeply regret that our weekly meetings will be coming to an end. Yet I cannot help but feel, as almost anyone who comes into contact with him must, that I have gained a lifetime friend and mentor, and for this alone I am blessed in this process. I would also like to thank Professor Doug Trevor, whose assistance was indispensable and whose office was always open to me. My mother, Teri Mikan Gadaleto, read early drafts of this thesis and managed as she always does to walk the razor’s edge between praise and remarkably insightful criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Objective-Subjective Elements in John Milton's Dramatic Poem Samson Agonistes
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1947 An Analysis of the Objective-Subjective Elements in John Milton's Dramatic Poem Samson Agonistes Louis S. Kaluzsa Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Kaluzsa, Louis S., "An Analysis of the Objective-Subjective Elements in John Milton's Dramatic Poem Samson Agonistes" (1947). Master's Theses. 635. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/635 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1947 Louis S. Kaluzsa AN ANALYSIS OF THE OBJECTIVE-SUBJECTIVE ELEMENTS IN JOHN MILTON'S DRAMATIC POEM SAMSON AGONISTES BY LOUIS S. KALUZSA, S.J. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULF'ILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY JUNE 1947 VITA AUCTORIS Louis s. Kaluzsa, S.J., was born in Cleve­ land, Ohio, October 13, 1916. He was graduated from Cathedral Latin High School, Cleveland, Ohio, June, 1934. He entered John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio, in Septemb~r, 1934. After completing two years there, he entered the Milford Novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1936 and waB enrolled at St. Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, whence he received his Litt.
    [Show full text]
  • Censorship As a Typographical Chimera
    Preliminary Communication UDC 070.13:808.5Milton, J. Received December 29th, 2009 Béla Mester Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Philosophical Research, Etele út 59-61, HU–1119 Budapest [email protected] Censorship as a Typographical Chimera John Milton and John Locke on Gestures1 Abstract The aim of my paper is to show some elements in Milton’s and Locke’s political writin­ gs, depending on their attitudes to different media. Milton in his argumentation against censorship must demonstrate that all the ancient instances for censorship, usually cited in his century, can be interpreted as examples of another phenomenon. However, Milton, analysing loci of Plato’s Republic and some Scriptural topics, recognises the scope and significance of non­conceptual, non­printed, non­verbal forms of communication; he des­ cribes them as signs of childish, female or uneducated behaviours, as valueless phenomena from the point of view of political liberty incarnated in the freedom of press. John Locke’s attitude is the same. I will show a chain of ideas, similar to Milton’s one, in his Two Tracts on Government and in his Epistola de tolerantia, focusing the analyses on the concept of adiaphora (indifferent things). Key words censorship, orality, typographical age, Plato on censorship, adiaphora, John Milton’s Areo­ pagitica, John Locke’s Epistola de tolerantia The main topic of my presentation is John Milton’s argumentation and art of rhetoric in his Areopagitica. However, Milton was not a researcher of the media, and his aim in his booklet was not an analysis of homo typographicus’ thought on the freedom of thought itself, depended on the medium of the printed book; his thinking inevitably met the links between our ideals on the freedom of thought and different media by which we express them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Italy in Milton's Early Poetic Development
    Italia Conquistata: The Role of Italy in Milton’s Early Poetic Development Submitted by Paul Slade to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in December 2017 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. Abstract My thesis explores the way in which the Italian language and literary culture contributed to John Milton’s early development as a poet (over the period up to 1639 and the composition of Epitaphium Damonis). I begin by investigating the nature of the cultural relationship between England and Italy in the late medieval and early modern periods. I then examine how Milton’s own engagement with the Italian language and its literature evolved in the context of his family background, his personal contacts with the London Italian community and modern language teaching in the early seventeenth century as he grew to become a ‘multilingual’ poet. My study then turns to his first published collection of verse, Poems 1645. Here, I reconsider the Italian elements in Milton’s early poetry, beginning with the six poems he wrote in Italian, identifying their place and significance in the overall structure of the volume, and their status and place within the Italian Petrarchan verse tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Public Sphere and the Emergence of Copyright: Areopagitica, the Stationers’ Company, and the Statute of Anne*
    The Public Sphere and the Emergence of Copyright: Areopagitica, the Stationers’ Company, and the Statute of Anne* Mark Rose† I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 123 II. HABERMAS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE .............................................. 124 III. AREOPAGITICA .................................................................................. 128 IV. THE EARLY MODERN STATIONERS’ COMPANY ................................ 132 V. THE STATUTE OF ANNE ..................................................................... 136 VI. THE “HOLLOWING OUT” OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE ............................ 139 I. INTRODUCTION The notion of the public sphere, or more precisely the bourgeois public sphere, associated with German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, has become ubiquitous in eighteenth-century cultural studies. Scholars concerned with media and democratic discourse have also invoked Habermas. Nonetheless, the relationship between the emergence of the public sphere and the emergence of copyright in early modern England has not been much discussed. In this Article, I will explore the relationship between the Habermasian public sphere and the inauguration 1 of modern copyright law in the Statute of Anne in 1710. * This Article will also appear in PRIVILEGE AND PROPERTY: ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY OF COPYRIGHT (Ronan Deazley, Martin Kretschmer, and Lionel Bently eds., forthcoming 2010). † © 2009 Mark Rose. Mark Rose (AB Princeton, BLitt Oxford, PhD Harvard) is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has taught in the English Department since 1977. He has also held positions at Yale, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of California, Irvine. Authors and Owners, his study of the emergence of copyright in eighteenth-century England, was a finalist for a National Book Critics’ Circle Award. Rose also regularly serves as a consultant and expert witness in matters involving allegations of copyright infringement.
    [Show full text]
  • Schreyer Honors College Department of English John
    THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH JOHN MILTON’S DIVORCE TRACTS AND GENDER EQUALITY IN FAMILY LAW MADISON V. SOPIC Spring 2013 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in English with honors in English Reviewed and approved* by the following: Marcy North Associate Professor of English Thesis Supervisor Lisa Sternlieb English Honors Advisor Honors Adviser * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i ABSTRACT In recent years, John Milton’s divorce tracts have been deemed predictive of modern divorce laws. Moreover, with a new wave of feminist criticism appearing in the 1970s, such critics as Catherine Gimelli Martin, Gina Hausknecht, Maria Magro, and Harvey Couch have asserted that Milton’s divorce tracts are not only predictive, but that they promote the rights of women in divorce law in a way that has made Milton nearly prophetic. However, this thesis disputes the idea that Milton is supportive of modern gender equality within his divorce tracts, and asks such questions as: Does Milton attempt to gain an equal opportunity to divorce for both genders in his work? Does he desire divorce for the betterment of both spouses? And, finally, does Milton offer women any protection following a divorce? These questions are answered by means of closely examining Milton’s primary text, as well as multiple historical variables, such as religion, language, societal norms, and common outcomes of divorce for women. Through an examination of these factors, it is ultimately deciphered that Milton is not supportive of gender equality in divorce law, and thus, his divorce tracts are not predictive of modern divorce legislation.
    [Show full text]