| Materie: | Appunti |
| Categoria: | Inglese |
Voto: | 1 (2) |
| Download: | 75 |
| Data: | 05.04.2006 |
| Numero di pagine: | 2 |
| Formato di file: | .doc (Microsoft Word) |
Testo
CRITICAL NOTES ABOUT MILTON
Milton, the greatest writer of his age, lives the turbulence of his era being involved in the English Civil War, supporting Cromwell and devoting his entire work to the cause of Puritans. His greatest work, Paradise Lost, is the result of the meditations on the Bible of Milton, Renaissance scholar and Puritan poet. The subject matter is biblical: man loses the joys of Paradise through eating the forbidden fruit. Paradise is lost and sin and death become part of the human condition. Paradise Lost is also a great classical epic and his inspiration came from Gerusalemme Liberata, Aeneid and Ilyad. In Paradise Lost many elements drawn from the epic can be found: the invocation to the Muse, the description of a war, the heroes, the supernatural elements and the highly refined language. Other elements contribute to the grandness of his style, like the use of many Latinate forms. A feature of his style is inversion: he writes the adjective after the noun. He often repeats a phrase or word to link these long sentences. Milton chooses words, not just for their meaning, but also for the beauty of their sound.
Satan is taken to be one of the most attractive characters of Paradise Lost. At the start, he is an epic hero, the incarnation of beauty fallen from grace and of great courage. But, later, the figure of Satan becomes less evident and, from being a great leader, he becomes a vile creature, the essence of evil.
A comparison between Milton and Dante comes automatically to mind. Both describe hell and are caught up in their religious ideas. But differences exist: in Divina Commedia the hero is the poet, while in Paradise Lost Satan is the hero. Dante gives up a picture of the society of his time, Milton talks mainly of the original sin. Dante’s hell is planned and organized; Milton’s hell is in a state of chaos. Dante attacks political figures; Milton’s poem is not concerned with politics. Dante writes using a language meant to be understood by all, while Milton’s language excludes all but the best educated because of the high style.
