| The seventeenth century saw both unprecedented travel by Englishman, to India, Africa, and the New World, and significant social conflicts on questions of gender. These two major cultural concerns are woven throughout Milton's Comus, Paradise Lost, and Samson Agonistes , and this course will ask questions about both . We will develop out understanding of seventeenth century - discourses of empire and gender, not only by reading contemporary theoretical analyses, but also through examining selections of Milton's prose and seventeenth-century accounts of English encounters with other cultures, such as those compiled by Samuel Purchas. We will also pay particular attention to women writers who share Milton's concerned with gender roles, such as Amelia Lanyer, and his interest in empire, such as Aphra Behn. Ultimatley the course will be directed towards developing our understanding Milton's language - how it alludes not only to a rich literary tradition but also to a complex and fascinating historical moments. |
