Course Introduction

Milton: Paradise Lost: Religious and Literary Background

In this course, Dr Edmund White (University of Oxford) explores the religious and literary background of Paradise Lost. This course provides an introduction to the religious culture of seventeenth-century England, and shows how this culture influenced the composition of Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost. This course falls into two halves. In the first half: we explore the principal Christian ideas that feature in Milton’s narration of the fall of Adam and Eve; in the second half, we look at the political implications of the religious ideas articulated in Paradise Lost. In both halves, we take examples from key moments of the poem, as well as from other writings by Milton and his seventeenth-century contemporaries.

Course Introduction

In this lecture, we introduce the key themes of the course: the religious culture of 17th-century England and how this culture impacted the composition of Milton's epic poem 'Paradise Lost'