Spenser and Milton (Free Course)

Taught by William Flesch at Brandeis University, Spenser and Milton are the two greatest non-dramatic English poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and they even rival Shakespeare.  Shakespeare read (and adopted) Spenser; Milton read and used Spenser as a way to think about poetic, aesthetic, religious and political issues in a non-Shakespearean way.  This course covers all of Spenser’s great allegorical poem The Faerie Queene, and all of Milton’s major poetry, including Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Any complete editions of Spenser and Milton will suffice.

1) Spenser: Book I of the Faerie Queene and the Spenserian stanza: Audio

2) Allegory and character in Spenser: Audio

3) More on allegory and character, inner and outer, with the examples of Orgoglio and of Despayre in Book I: Audio

4) Spenser: Book II: Spenser and certainty.  Guyon’s priggishness: Audio

5) Book II: Temperance and self-restraint.  The pleasures of self-restraint.  Mirth and Mammon: Audio

6) Book II: The Bower of Blisse and the Lovely Lay sung there: Audio

7) Book III: Why do Guyon and Britomart (Temperance and Chastity) fight?: Audio

8) Book III: Britomart and allegory: Audio

9) Book III: Allegory and human individuality: Audio

10) Book III: Amoret, Belphoebe and what the House of Busirane is for: Audio

11) What it’s like to live in the Land of Faery; the Garden of Adonis: Audio

12) Matter and Form in the Garden of Adonis: Audio

13) Book IV: Love and Friendship: Audio

14) Book IV: The Friend as Second Self: Audio

15) Book IV: Scudamor at the Temple of Venus: Audio

16) Book V: Varieties of Justice: Audio

17) Books V and VI: The relation of Justice to Courtesy: Audio

18) Variety and Uniformity in Books V and VI: Audio

19) Book VI as pastoral: Audio

20) Last, best class on the Faerie Queene: Scopophilia and narrative: Audio

21) Milton: Lycidas: Audio

22) Contrasts and Debates in Milton: Audio

23) Lycidas and Comus: Audio

24) Comus, rape, and freedom: Audio

25) Paradise Lost and freedom: Audio

26) Paradise Lost: The mind is its own place.  The Lady from Comus and Satan: Audio

27) Paradise Lost as anti-allegorical poem.  Invocation to Book 3: Audio

28) Paradise Lost: Who gets to judge God’s ways?: Audio

29) Paradise Lost: Warnings and failures to warn: Audio

30) Paradise Lost: Prayer and Invocation: Audio

31) Dreams, allegories, and other minds in Milton: Audio

32) Moral typologies in Paradise Lost: Audio

33) How humans think things through in Milton: Audio

34) Temptation in Paradise Lost, Areopagitica and Paradise Regained: Audio

35) Last class: Samson and his blindness.  Closet drama: Audio

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.