Milton and the Romantics: They walk in beauty

Authors

Keywords:

Beauty, Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Milton, Romantics, Shelley, Wordsworth

Abstract

This study poses a hypothesis that the works of John Milton inspired and influenced the poets of the 18th century Romantic Movement and asks, if that is true, then to what extent and in what manner may such inspiration and influence be found in the works of those later writers. The traditional method of literary research, i.e., the review of published literature, is augmented by close readings of selected texts and extended by a poststructuralist perspective that denies any one specific meaning of a text. With a focus on the concept of “beauty” as it appears in literature throughout the ages and articulated by Milton and the Romantic poets, the hypothesis is confirmed and the extent and the manner of Milton’s inspiration and influence are revealed. The study finds convincing evidence of the connection between Milton and the Romantics in the portrayal of Eve as beautiful, a portrayal wholly of Milton’s imagination, one not found in the Bible. Both the method and the findings offer a fertile field for further research into Milton’s influence on later writers. 

 

Author Biography

Edward R. Raupp, Professor of English Philology, Director, Center for Foreign Languages, Gori State Teaching University

Edward Robert Raupp was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and attended public schools there, graduating as valedictorian from high school and earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Carnegie Mellon University in business management and economics. He earned his Master of Business Administration at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Master of Arts in English Language and Literature at the University of Minnesota.  He served in the United States Army for twenty years, retiring as a full colonel for a career as a business executive and then as a university professor.  He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer at Gori State University in Georgia for 3½ years and co-founded The University of Georgia in Tbilisi.  He and his wife, Danna, taught for a year at a college on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa, for a year.  He is a full professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Gori State Teaching University, where he taches, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton, among others, and adjunct professor at Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He is author of many  books and professional journal articles. Professor Raupp is founder of the Milton Society of Georgia.

 

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Published

2022-06-29

How to Cite

Edward R. Raupp. (2022). Milton and the Romantics: They walk in beauty. Caucasus Journal of Milton Studies, 1(2), 1–14. Retrieved from https://www.cjojms.com/index.php/research/article/view/18

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2: June 2022 CJMS

Section

Articles