Fall for 2009-2010 By starting with the early literary
productions in poetry and prose and concluding with /Samson
Agonistes/, written in old age, when Milton, like his champion,
was blind and disillusioned, we will give attention to the
development of his literary powers. But we will spend most of
our time on /Paradise Lost/. With all due reverence for
Chaucer's /Canterbury Tales /and Shakespeare's /Hamlet/ and
/King Lear/, Milton's epic is the greatest single work ever
written in English. We will try to understand it mostly on our
own but also with help from a few of the best contemporary
essays. Other academic years There is information about this
course number in other academic years: