Cosmic Pandemonium in Paradise Lost

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or honours in English Literary Studies.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject explores the great revolutions of the English seventeenth century through the prism of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost (1667, 1674). Weekly seminars will offer a close reading of each of the 12 books of the poem in the context of significant political, economic, theological and epistemological breaks exemplified by the English Revolution of 1642. These include the expansion and diversification of radical Protestant and Puritan religious sects; experiments with new forms of government such as the republic and constitutional monarchy; the origins of modern science and technology with Bacon, Galileo and Descartes; transformations in sexual and familial relationships; the development and regulation of new forms of print culture; and the founding of institutions like the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge (1662). Topics to be covered will include: genre, theology, sex, politics, militarism, education, science, censorship, architecture and aesthetics.

• have acquired additional information, methodology or skills directly relevant to their program of study.

An essay of 5000 words 100% (due in the examination period).

A subject reader containing contextual and critical material will be available.

• John Milton (S Orgel and J Goldberg, eds.), Oxford

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• be able to apply new research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;

• have developed critical self-awareness and shape and strengthen persuasive arguments;

• be able to communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and to others.