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Information to Users INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from themicrofilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandardmargins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 9417557 The relative modernity of Milton’s “Of Education” Werlein, Halsey Ewing, D.A. Middle Tennessee State University, 1993 UMI 300 N. ZeebRd. Ann Arbor, M I 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Relative Modernity of Milton's Of Education Halsey Ewing Werlein A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Arts December, 1993 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Relative Modernity of Milton's Of Education APPROVED: Graduate Committee Major Professor _______^QuTJzsy>&^________________ Head of the English Department Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Halsey Ewing Werlein Abstract The Relative Modernity of Milton's Of Education Ernest Sirluck's essay on Milton's Of Education, in volume two of the Yale University Complete Prose Works of John Milton (1959), concludes that Of Education has virtually nothing "significant" in common with the educational works of John Amos Comenius, the Moravian pedagogical innovator, and that the Comenian disciple in England, Samuel Hartlib, who had originally solicited Milton's essay, refused to publish it due to Milton's "slighting" reference to the works of Comenius. Sirluck asserts that Of Education is thoroughly humanistic and not at all modern, except for some slight influence from Francis Bacon, and therefore future scholars should conduct their research where the essay's "true affiliation" lies: in the humanistic educational practices and documents of the Renaissance. Although such humanistic research may very well shed some light on Of Education, not to see the modern elements of Milton's tractate is to fail to understand it fully. Written during the thick of the English Civil War, Milton's essay was just as revolutionary as was to be Oliver Cromwell's new commonwealth. With great emphasis on scientific (though not experimental) knowledge, Of Education justifies every one of its ideas by its potential Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Halsey Ewing Werlein usefulness to the state: the projected students were to end up being thoroughly "productive" citizens in both war and peace. Although Milton's practical Puritanical bent was not as pronounced as that of Comenius, and the poet did not take his educational ideas to the extremes the Moravian did, Milton's Of Education was a link between the humanism of his own education and more modern educational systems. Thus, there was no reason for friction between Hartlib and Milton, and though Milton did happen to publish his essay himself, it was not the result of any falling out between them. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Chapter Page I. Introduction to the Problem...................... 1 II. Survey of Relevant Criticism..................... 6 III. The Humanistic Side of On Education............ 19 IV. Modernistic Aspects of On Education............ 89 V. Conclusion..................................... 140 Works Cited.............................................. 147 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Chapter I: Introduction to the Problem There is a strong tendency for readers of Milton's Of Education to regard it as the last great English Renaissance expression of educational ideas and ideals and to miss its more modern aspects. Most discussions of the tractate since Ernest Sirluck's landmark essay on it in the Yale Complete Prose Works of John Milton (cited below as CPW) have accepted Sirluck's conclusion that it is a purely humanistic treatise and that any resemblance to more modern educational ideas is almost totally coincidental (2: 184-216). For instance, a standard student text, Seventeenth Century Prose and Poetry, edited by Alexander M. Witherspoon and Frank J. Warnke (latest edition: 1982), states that the "tradition [of Christian humanism] informs the tract On Education" (387). Although it is easy to understand how one might arrive at such a conclusion in the light of the very large element of Renaissance humanism in Milton's essay, I do not believe that this interpretation lends itself to a complete understanding of Milton's intent in Of Education. Although the poet was given as great a Renaissance education as was available in the time of his youth in London, his humanism was severely modified by the Puritanism he was exposed to from his earliest years, and his educational tractate was at least as influenced by this as it was by Saint Paul's School and the humanistic educational tradition. And one cannot study Puritanism without rapidly Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 becoming aware of its emphasis on the practicality and usefulness of all our endeavors, including our educational ones. Indeed, it was this emphasis that caused Milton's educational tractate to be considered not a modern one, but a transitional one between humanistic and modern systems of education. And not to understand this is to miss at least half of the true meaning of his essay Of Education. But before going further, I would like to specify the special senses in which "humanism" and "modernism" will be used in this dissertation. In Early Tudor Poetry. John M. Berdan defines humanism as "a revival of interest in classical life and in classical literature" (230). Of course humanism went further than simple "interest in classical life and in classical literature"; humanists also wanted to emulate classical civilization, including its cultivation of the "liberal arts." Charles T. Harrison, in "The Idea of a Christian University," defines "liberal" as "free," or, more accurately, "for freedom." The word derives from Greek and Roman use, which recognized that one type of training was appropriate for the children of slaves and another type for "liberi," or the children who were born to freedom. (73) William Harrison Woodward, in his Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators, quotes Vittorino as further defining liberal studies as those Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 by which we attain and practice virtue and wisdom; that education which calls forth, trains and develops those highest gifts of body and of mind which ennoble men, and which are rightly judged to rank next in dignity to virtue only. (102) And how might one attain this highest development of mind and body? The body is to be developed through appropriate exercise, but for the mind to reach its fullest potential, it must be exposed to the greatest productions of the human spirit throughout the ages. As Douglas Bush described Of Education in his book, John Milton. A Sketch of his Life and Writings. "its dynamic spirit is (to borrow Whitehead's phrase) the habitual vision of greatness" (92-93). Thus, the definition of humanistic education which will be used in this dissertation is the exposure to greatness of students who have in them the seeds of greatness, thus actualizing that potential for greatness. Conversely, I define modernism in education as training in what is perceived as being useful in terms of making a living for oneself in "the real world." Charles Harrison's essay well defines this as "an instrumental education— an education devoted to the cultivation of mechanical and professional skills, education which
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