Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Pfeiffer, Douglas | Robinson, Benedict
Date
2016-12-01
Keywords
English literature | Fallen Language, God, Milton, Paradise Lost, Rhetoric, Speaker
Department
Department of English
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77526
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
This essay explores the significance of Milton’s use of poetic language, the cultural byproduct of what would be considered fallen language, in Paradise Lost as a means to highlight God’s uniqueness from the other beings of the poem, including the Speaker, and thus bolstering his goal to justify the ways of God to man. By looking at all of the different beings in this poem as existing in a hierarchical structure, it becomes apparent that the further a being exists away from God, who exists as the purest being of the hierarchy and is therefore placed at the top, the more dramatic and colloquial his or her language becomes. In order to examine why the vernaculars of this hierarchical structure are important to Milton’s overall cause, this study provides a close analysis of the epic, as well as engages with several other studies conducted by notable Miltonic scholars. The result demonstrates that Milton embraces fallen poetic language not only because it thrived as the literary language of his and his audience’s time period, but also to ease his audience up the hierarchical structure in an attempt to bring them closer to God. By depicting God’s language as unique and not relatable, Milton reveals how a fallen audience must work hard to climb the hierarchical ladder before obtaining a position closer to that of God. | This essay explores the significance of Milton’s use of poetic language, the cultural byproduct of what would be considered fallen language, in Paradise Lost as a means to highlight God’s uniqueness from the other beings of the poem, including the Speaker, and thus bolstering his goal to justify the ways of God to man. By looking at all of the different beings in this poem as existing in a hierarchical structure, it becomes apparent that the further a being exists away from God, who exists as the purest being of the hierarchy and is therefore placed at the top, the more dramatic and colloquial his or her language becomes. In order to examine why the vernaculars of this hierarchical structure are important to Milton’s overall cause, this study provides a close analysis of the epic, as well as engages with several other studies conducted by notable Miltonic scholars. The result demonstrates that Milton embraces fallen poetic language not only because it thrived as the literary language of his and his audience’s time period, but also to ease his audience up the hierarchical structure in an attempt to bring them closer to God. By depicting God’s language as unique and not relatable, Milton reveals how a fallen audience must work hard to climb the hierarchical ladder before obtaining a position closer to that of God. | 39 pages
Recommended Citation
Telano, Steven, "Operating in a Fallen Vehicle: How the Corrupted Language of Paradise Lost Serves Milton's God" (2016). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3330.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3330