LIT5038 – Spring 2027 – Maurette
This graduate seminar will be devoted entirely to John Milton’s Paradise Lost, one of the foundational works of the Western literary canon. Over the course of the semester, we will undertake a sustained, intensive reading of the poem, attending closely to its language, syntax, rhetoric, imagery, theology, politics, and poetic form. Concentrating on a single work for an entire semester will allow us to practice the art of close reading at an advanced level and to discover the extraordinary complexity that sustained attention can reveal. Our goal is not simply to understand Milton, but to learn how to read poetry deeply, patiently, and precisely.
This course fulfills the general literature requirement for one course pre-1800. It also satisfies the requirement for coursework in the following areas of concentration: Medieval and Early Modern Literary and Cultural Studies; and a Literary Genre (Poetry).