Religion and Paradise Lost: An Annotated Bibliography

Who doesn’t get excited about a war between heaven and hell? Satan, and all his boys, versus God, and all his angels, I smell apocalypse. O sorry, it’s just Paradise Lost, but what’s not exciting about Milton’s epic? The creation of the world, battle between heaven and hell, Satan running around doing his evil thing, the fortunate fall of man, and an omnipotent but not an all creating God; it’s literary magic. Since the 17^th century religion in Milton’s signature epic has been dissected time and time again.

Why are critics so focused on this epic poem and its religious qualities? Aren’t we all tired of hearing about God beating Satan and man’s fortunate fall? The answer is emphatically no. Critics have flocked to religion in Paradise Lost because of the staggering amount of critical possibilities the work presents in regards to religion. The concept of the trinity, the fortunate fall, the religious language used, the concept of God, the concept of Satan as a hero, and Milton’s own theorized religious outlook on the world is only the tip of the iceberg. Religion in Paradise Lost is like a literary Grand Canyon, people don’t appreciate the unequaled beauty and depth of it until it’s seen.

The following selective annotated bibliography contains a wide variety of sources pertaining to religion in Paradise Lost. All fifteen sources are from either accredited academic journals or websites hosted by extremely respected universities. Sources examine Milton’s own religious context and how it impacted the work, the paradox of the fortunate fall, the morality of the text, how Milton’s epic can be viewed as a warning to British citizens looking to colonize America, “otherness” in the text, God’s will, the concept of Biblical hero’s, and chaos theory and how it relates to the text to name a few.

Every article cited has been published within the last 85 years. The goal of the project is to show how a fraction of the amount of information available on this subject. Each article, except for the background information on Milton’s life and religious practices, involves a different aspect of religion in the epic. Some of them are similar, but they are all unique.

College students, scholars, and teachers may use this bibliography in a variety of ways. Obviously, by itself the document serves as an excellent overview of religion in Milton’s greatest work. It may also be used by high school students in order to comprehend some more difficult aspects of the epic.

Anderson, Jarod K. “The Decentralization of Morality in Paradise Lost.” Rocky Mountain Review64.2 (2010): 198-204. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Anderson’s article deals with “otherness” in Paradise Lost. He suggests that the moral struggle in the epic centers on Milton’s need to uphold the authority of God while simultaneously legitimizing opposition to the will of God. Otherness is the Night and Chaos, two entities that are older than God and therefore outside of his creation and not answerable to him. Anderson argues that framing God’s created universe in a larger uncreated narrative universe allows the reader the reader to uphold or abandon Milton’s defense of God’s will, which is relative, and allows Milton the right context to defend His will. Article is eight pages long with notes and can be accessed online through the Tech Library Journal Database.

Conlan, J.P. “Paradise Lost: Milton’s Anti-Imperial Epic.” Pacific Coast Philology 33.1(1998): 31-43. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

Conlan’s journal article deals with Milton’s feelings towards the colonization of America and how the religious writings of Paradise Lost contain an anti-colonial message. Conlan begins coins the term “nautical piety,” explorers who reached new lands were “blessed by God,” and shows it’s evolution through sermons delivered to sailors from the 16^th-18^th century. Conlan argues Satan’s journey to exterminate heaven in Paradise Lost is in direct correlation with British citizens determined to imperialize the colonies. In the end God had already judged his motives and doomed his future behavior and casts Satan down, this is Milton’s message to the colonies. Article is fourteen pages long complete with notes and is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Dunnum, Eric. “The Bipartite System of Laws in Paradise Lost.” Rocky Mountain Review 64.2(2010): 151-69. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Dunnum’s journal article blames the fall of man on God’s bipartite system. Dunnum explains the system as the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) and the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) or internal and external laws. Dunnum suggest that God’s only external law was not to eat of the tree of knowledge, and that there are many more internal laws which are understood through the gifts of freedom and reason. The crux of Dunnum’s argument is God’s bipartite system conflicts with itself and the collapse of laws leads to the fall of man. Article is twenty pages long with notes and can be accessed through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Fallon, Samuel. “Milton’s Strange God: Theology and Narrative Form in Paradise Lost.” ELH79.1 (2012): 33-57. Project Muse. Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Fallon’s article deals with how John Milton’s Paradise Lost deals with a timeless, all knowing god who makes his will known to his creations who are not timeless and extremely fallible. Fallon juxtaposes the communication between god and man in Paradise Lost Milton’s De Doctrina Christiana. He highlights the god Christ relationship, the “strange” father, and the relationship with angels. The article is twenty-two pages long on its own, twenty-six pages with notes. The notes are extremely helpful in understanding old religious terms. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Fletcher, Katherine. “A Biography of John Milton, 1608-1674.” Darkness Visible. Christ’sCollege, 2008. Web. 03 Oct. 2013.

Fletcher’s scholarly Milton online biography is important because it documents Milton’s protestant beliefs which are crucial to understanding the religion in Paradise Lost . All of Milton’s life is represented in the article under specific sub titles such as university years, republicanism, and Paradise Lost. The biography also documents Milton’s rise and fall during the commonwealth. The article ends with references to much more in depth biographies concerning Milton’s entire life in extremely minute detail. Article is accessed through Cambridge’s Paradise Lost website under the biography tab.

Herman, William R. “Heroism and Paradise Lost.” College English 21.1 (1959): 13-17. JSTOR.Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Herman’s article juxtaposes the Hellenic (pagan) and Biblical (Christian) hero. Herman begins the article by comparing David (Biblical) to Ajax (pagan) and defining the each type of hero. Herman goes onto classify each major character from the epic into the correct category, only Adam and Eve fall into both categories. Herman proposes that the Hellenistic reader will be disappointed with the overall ending of the epic because after eight books of increasing climax, humanity falls under trivial circumstances when Adam and Eve succumb to temptation, but biblical (religious) oriented readers understand the trivial circumstances and are aware that the fall of man is “fortunate.” The article is extremely easy to read and is only six pages long and has no notes. Article can be accessed through the Tech Library Journal Database.

Kerr, Jason A. “Prophesying the Bible: The Improvisation of Scripture in Books 11 and 12 of

Paradise Lost.” Milton Quarterly 47.1 (2013): 13-33. Wiley Online Library. Web. 16 Oct.2013.

Kerr’s article argues that Milton, through poetic displacement, saw Paradise Lost as a precursor to the Bible. Kerr argues that this way of looking at the poem in this way opens new ways to interpret it, specifically the relationship between Michael and Adam and the chosen scripture for books 11 and 12. The article is obsessed with looking at Adam’s ability to quote scripture before it has even been written. The article is twenty-one pages long and contains helpful notes. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Lovejoy, A. O. “Milton, and the Paradox of the Fortunate Fall.” ELH 4th ser. 4.3 (1937): 161+. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Lovejoy’s eighteen page journal article has been considered to be the best explanation of the fortunate fall since 1937. The article explains how the fall was necessary in order for man’s redemption through God. Lovejoy explains the differences between Milton’s fortunate fall and the poets Du Bartas and Giles Fletcher’s fortunate fall, two poets that used the fall in their works before Milton. The article contains examples of protestant and catholic interpretations of the fortunate fall from the 4^th– 17^th centuries. Notes are published with the article. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Merrill, Thomas F. “Milton’s Satanic Parable.” ELH 50.2 (1983): 279-95. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct.2013.

Merrill’s journal article focuses on the religious language that Satan uses when he speaks in Paradise Lost. Merrill argues that the religious language in Paradise Lost is not typical because Satan, instead of God, is “… functions as an instrument of divine insight by providing Christian readers with parabolic awareness of God’s presence. Merrill walks the reader through the idea of “logical docetism,” goes onto reveal the parable as the ultimate literary vehicle through which divine and human values can be simultaneously exposed, and then examines a select number of Satan’s speeches that proves his textual value in finding God’s presence. Article is eighteen pages long and filled with useful endnotes. Article accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Parish, John E. “Milton and an Anthropomorphic God.” Studies in Philology 56.4 (1959): 619-25. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Parish’s journal article presents Milton struggling with three passages from the Old Testament. Abraham and Moses seem to convince God not to destroy an entire race of people and appeal to his sense of mercy. Milton knew no man could convince God to change his mind, it was all part of his divine plan. Milton creates two scenes in Paradise Lost that are extremely similar to these events. Christ appeals to God not to destroy humanity and uses the same rhetoric Abraham did, while Adam appeals to God for a mate, and God is pleased with Adam in Book 8 for stepping up. Article is 8 pages long with footnotes and can be accessed through Tech Library Journal Database.

Parry, David. “Milton and the Bible.” Darkness Visible. Christ’s College, 2008. Web. 24 Oct.2013.

Parry’s online article gives basic, easy to understand information on how Milton used the Bible in Paradise Lost. Parry explains that in Milton’s day the Bible was used to explain complex problems. Milton himself used the Bible to explain his views on divorce and campaign against corrupt members of the church. The website is divided into four tabs: creation, fall, redemption, consummation. Each tab gives an example of Biblical scripture and then gives an example of how Milton used the scripture in Paradise Lost.  This website is Cambridge’s Paradise Lost study guide and can be accessed at darknessvisible.uk

Parry, David. “Milton’s Religious Context.” Darkness Visible. Christ’s College, 2008. Web. 24Oct. 2013.

Parry’s article is ridiculously easy to read and is extremely forthcoming with basic, yet crucial, ideas concerning the religious context of Milton’s own time and Paradise Lost. The Reformation tab starts with Martin Luther, moves to Henry VIII and the beginning of the Church of England, swaps back to Queen Mary, and ends with protestant Queen Elizabeth. The Puritan tab is extremely helpful because it informs the reader of Milton’s extremely protestant education at Cambridge. Milton’s own religion is somewhat hard to deduce but Parry asserts that Milton was most certainly a Protestant who held controversial beliefs on divorce and probably was sympathetic to Arminianism, Protestants who believed in human free will instead of God reigning over all. This website is Cambridge’s Paradise Lost study guide and can be accessed at darknessvisible.uk

Pecheux, Mary C. “The Second Adam and the Church in Paradise Lost.” ELH 34.2 (1967): 173-87. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Pechuex’s article deals with an anagogical trinity that stems from Paradise Lost. Pecueux gives scriptural evidence from the Bible and also from Paradise Lost that shows the reader the anagogical trinity is the second Adam, Eve, and the new church. Pechuex’s argues that Milton uses traditional imagery of the Christian wife, from Tertullian and St. Augustine, in juxtaposition with the second trinity in Paradise Lost, Satan, sin, and death, to explain the fourth trinity. This article is sixteen pages long and is loaded with footnotes that help the reader. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Rumrich, John. “Milton’s God and the Matter of Chaos.” PMLA 110.5 (1995): 1035-046. JSTOR.Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Rumrich’s journal article delves into twentieth century chaos theory concerning Chaos, as a character, in Paradise Lost. Article looks at the Babylonian epic Enuma elish to prove that Chaos, from a religious perspective, has always been despised by pre-twentieth century theologians of all religions. Rumrich rightly suggests that Milton foresaw Chaos as something that can create (or “divine”) and quotes book 7 proving that Chaos is boundless and infinite because God fills it. Rumrich suggests that Chaos is to God as Eve is to Adam. Article is thirteen pages long, including notes, and can be accessed through the Tennessee Tech Library Journal Database.

Smith, Russell E. “Adam’s Fall.” ELH 35.4 (1968): 527-39. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Smith’s twelve page journal article focuses on Adam’s “fall up” instead of the traditional “fall down.” Smith focuses on Adam’s curiosity while questioning Raphael in Book V. Smith argues that Adam “fell up” because he saw he was to Raphael as Eve was to him, that is to say less than equal. This is a crucial interpretation of the fall when looking at the paradox along with it. Notes are published along with the article. Article is twelve pages long and is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Milton Quarterly

The Milton Quarterly is published by Wiley Online and edited by Dr. Edward Jones, a professor of literature at Oklahoma State University who specializes in Milton and 17^th century British Literature. Dr. Jones has published many articles and books concerning Milton, most notably Young Milton: The Emerging Author: 1620-1642. The rest of the editorial board represents American academic institutions.

The mission of Milton Quarterly is to “… reflect the aims and interests of the world-wide community of people interested in… John Milton. It provides news, schedules of conferences, abstracts and reviews, as well as a number of articles and notes on his works, career, literary surroundings and his place in cultural history.” The scope of the journal is particularly vast, covering topics such as critical theory from a cultural perspective, textually oriented history, psychological, and multicultural. These policies have been in place since the journals inception in 1967.

Each of the issues reviewed had a healthy mix of articles, reviews, and abstracts that covered numerous different aspects of Milton’s work. These articles included topics such as the “Nation and Nurture of in Seventeenth Century English Literature” and “Rapturous Milton and the Communal Harmony of Faith.” Milton Quarterly is not scared to talk about anything Milton but at least one article relates to culture and religion in Milton’s works in every issue. Also, whenever the journal publishes abstracts, it includes recent articles over Milton from other esteemed academic journals. The first issue I reviewed was from this year and focused on Milton’s use of scripture in Paradise Lost books 11 and 12. The author claims that through poetic displacement Milton saw Paradise Lost as a precursor to the Bible and this accounts for Adam’s knowledge of scripture before it has been written. A 20003 article juxtaposed the feminist and non feminist perspective of Eve in Paradise Lost. A 20009 article dealt with the lack of equestrian imagery in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Each of these articles is written in high academic style and looks at the epic from a critical perspective and clearly reflects the aims and interests of the world-wide community of people interested in Milton.

Darkness Visible

Darkness Visible is Christ’s College (Cambridge) website to introduce students to Milton and his masterpiece Paradise Lost. The executive editor of the website is Katherine Fletcher. Fletcher has earned a doctorate in Renaissance Literature from Cambridge.. All of the published writers on the website are PhD or BA students at the Cambridge English Department. However, each page is cited with extreme accuracy that allows the reader to trace the roots of each citation all the way back to its original document. In many cases the cited works are much more in depth on the subject matter being discussed. In all reality this is why this website is extremely useful. It gives concise background information on almost all of the crucial elements of Paradise Lost, and if more information is needed it is easy to obtain through the websites citations.

Although most of the writers and some of the editors are students, this website is extremely professional and accurate. First of all, it’s Cambridge’s Milton website. Cambridge is considered universally to be a top tier academic university. Secondly, all of these students have immense knowledge of Milton, many of them have written or are in the process or writing their dissertation on Milton and one or more of his works. Third, all of the student published articles are reviewed by Dr. Fletcher and Dr. Foster for academic accuracy. Furthermore, the website is a basic introduction to Paradise Lost and Milton. A person would be hard pressed to find someone to disagree with the information they publish on Milton.

All of the information published on the site is sorted onto four tabs: Paradise Lost, contexts, influence, and Milton and the arts. The Paradise Lost tab has four sub tabs: plot, characters, language, and critics. The first two are self explanatory. The language tab revolves around all the different types of language used in the masterpiece. Milton was said to have known up to ten different languages, but this tab also looks the satanic, edenic, and fallen language that Milton used. The critics tab tells how Milton’s contemporaries received the text up to how the Romantics perceived it. The contexts tab contains a biography of Milton and also his own personal religious and political contexts and how they affected Paradise Lost. The influence tab names Milton’s influences as Chaucer, Homer, Virgil, and Dante, to name a few, and the writers who were in turn influenced by him, mainly Pullman. Milton and the arts tab give multiple examples of Paradise Lost illustrations, musical interpretations of the work, and also ask the question, “Could you put on Paradise Lost as a play?”

For background information this site is the best, and it can also lead to expansive articles that delve deep into Paradise Lost. The website is published b the Cambridge University Press, a commercial enterprise whose main objective is to sustain itself financially by publishing interesting articles, with regards to Darkness Visible it succeeds.

English Literary History Journal

The English Literary History Journal (ELH) is a quarterly produced publication of the Johns Hopkins University Press, sponsored by the Tudor and Stuart Club, a club that has, since 1923, promoted English Literature (both American and British) at Johns Hopkins University. The first issue of ELH appeared in 1934, and it is still in print today. The current editorial board is headed by Jonathan Kramnick, from Johns Hopkins. All of the main editorial board, save one, is a member of the Johns Hopkins English Department. The one only editor not on the Johns Hopkins University English Department faculty is Sharon Achinstein. Dr. Achinstein teaches at Oxford, and while at first glance this board may seem extremely regional, their expertise in different areas of literature, and long standing circulation led me to conclude that their journal is internationally respected (“English Department Directory”)\

Accessible through JSTOR and Academic OneFile, for TTU students through the library database, ELH’s mission is outlined on their website.“ELH publishes superior studies that interpret the conditions affecting major works in English and American literature. Building on a foundation that stretches back to 1934, ELH editors and contributors balance historical, critical, and theoretical concerns within the discipline of letters.” (“The Johns Hopkins University Press”)

Since its inception ELH has stayed grounded in its balance of historical, critical, and theoretical concerns when interpreting major works in English and American Literature. The first issue reviewed was from September 1934 and contained an article that discussed Milton’s Paradise Lost. “The Paradox of the Fortunate Fall,” by A.O. Lovejoy cites two other authors, Du Bartas and Giles Fletcher, that use the paradox of the fall of Adam before Milton did. Lovejoy specifically mentions Du Bartas paradox “…is quite categorically the point that but for the fall there could have been no Incarnation and Redemption… Milton’s Adam is made to express merely a doubt whether he should repent his sin or “rejoice much more” over its consequences” (Lovejoy 166). The portrayal of the fall in this manner would have certainly influenced the way Milton portrayed humanities fall from grace in Paradise Lost. This satisfies the journals historical, theoretical, and critical mission statement.

Two more issues were reviewed, December 1968 and spring 2012. Each of these issues dealt with a variety of topics that included literary periods such as the Elizabethan Revival, unknown authors like John Dolman, and theology in works such as Paradise Lost. The journal seems to be extremely flexible with article topics and author selection. ELH features articles on both British authors, such as Milton and Chaucer, and American authors, such as Wilbur and Eliot, although Brits are better represented. The journal seems to be extremely stable in form and circulation (“ELH All Volumes and Issues”).

The journal has hardly changed since it was first published. In fact, the only noticeable difference found was the number of articles per issue. As the journal got older and more respected it started publishing more articles. ELH publishes notes for each article, and has done so since the articles first publication. The journal circulates 999 issues per quarter (does not include e-journals). The journal seems to be extremely respected in its field; it’s been published since 1934 and did not stop for WWII (“The Johns Hopkins University Press”).

The ELH is accessible to any college student if their university library has access to JSTOR full text articles. It’s broad array of topics and length of publication guarantee’s a variety of different points of view on well known and less well known texts.