A Study Of Physical Power In John Milton's Late Poetr

John Milton(1604-1674)is one of the most influential classic writers in the history of world literature.The research of Milton has been abundant since the seventeenth century.Milton’s multiple identities as a theologian,orator,revolutionist,and thinker have made his literary works both concerned and full of controversy.Literary critics generally believe that Milton’s political and religious experience permeates his literary creations.Therefore,it is the most effective way to interpret Milton from the perspective of politics and religion.However,it has led to a serious convergence of the direction and results of Milton study.In recent years,as a new theory and historical research paradigm,New Materialist criticism has caught the attention of critics.The emphasis of philosophy on new materialism,or the emphasis on material-centered ontology,has also become a watershed in literary research.New materialism challenges the subject-oriented philosophy since Kant,emphasizes the material force in the study of historical development,points out that things are both active and complex,and advocates people to focus on the vitality and internal relations of things in the natural world and people’s daily life.How new materialism focuses on things and the research paradigm it advocates intersect with the fierce philosophical controversy over “spirit and matter” in the seventeenth century Europe.In the context of early modern philosophy,the bourgeois revolution and the modern scientific revolution provided rich soil for the blossoming of philosophical thoughts.Descartes,Hobbes,and Cambridge Platonists were the most influential forces of social thought at that time.Hobbes advocated materialistic mechanism and believed that all existence results from material movement,so he was regarded as an atheist and was suppressed and denounced by the European Church and the English Church.Descartes advocated dualism.He advocated that matter and spirit are two independent existences.In response to the heated ontological controversy,Milton insisted on the monism of “Animist Materialism” and proposed “one first matter all”.Milton believed that body and spirit are made up of the same living matter.He broke Hobbes’ mechanism and Descartes’ dualism,and resolved the tangible and intangible differences between matter and spirit.Milton’s “Animist Materialism” and New Materialism both try to eliminate the existence of subject and object.In addition,based on the controversy over material debate,critics often one-sidedly regard the material writing in Milton’s works as his confusion of spirit and matter.They even take his material writing as a support to criticize Milton’s philosophy.The religious and political theme of poetry is also used as an argument that criticizes Milton,because his writing lacks life details,and detached from daily life of people.The truth is,Milton’s works are full of details of material writing.More importantly,the material writing in literary works not only reflects the tradition of religious poets in the Early Modern England to meditate on things for getting close to God,but also shows Milton’s theological,political and moral reflection based on material narration.Besides,it is also an important basis for understanding the poet’s philosophical thought.Therefore,a systematic summary of Milton’s thoughts through his literary works rich in material writing is one of the important ways to understand Milton’s thoughts.Therefore,this study explores the material writing in Milton’s late poems from the perspective of New Materialism and explores Milton’s thinking about the world based on things under the seemingly fragmented material writing.The Research shows that Milton’s works are not the disharmony of spirit and matter and expounds that his literary works have never been political and religious slogans.His religious,political and moral reflection is based on his concern and narration of things and material forces in the natural world and people’s daily life.At the same time,Milton not only consciously constructs the literary text with material narration,but is also unconsciously influenced by the power of things in the process of writing.The main part of the thesis mainly discusses the three late poems of Milton,Paradise Lost,Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the main part of the thesis consist of three chapters.The introduction part first discusses the origin and significance of the thesis,then makes a comprehensive review of relevant domestic and foreign research related to this study,and systematically expounds on the theory and methods of the new materialism research used in this study.Then,the author outlines the difficulties and innovations.Chapter One,“Social Life of Things: Daily Life in Paradise Lost”,explores the flowing things in the material world closely related to the development of the poetic theme,characters and the plot from the perspective of “daily life” advocated by new materialism and of the details of daily life described by Milton in his poetry.Focuses on “the ability to construct meaning”,the research discusses thing power in the background,theme of betrayal and punishment of Paradise Lost from the aspects of how things act on forming differences,shaping subjects and establishing order.Firstly,focusing on things that can distinguish social groups and classes,Milton elaborates three different material dwellings of human beings,God and the devil.Combined with Milton’s “Animism Materialism” formed by responding to the early modern controversy over “spirit and matter”,the research observes and appreciates the daily life of the three material worlds in Milton’s poetry from New Materialism.The conclusion is that Heaven,Eden and Hell described by the poet are not empty imagination,but real “paradise” with earthly “things” that Milton tries to show the readers how human beings can understand and pursue.Secondly,the research focuses on how things can “shape and reshape the subject” thus can affect the subject to produce emotional changes and imagination so as to build the identity in the theme of betrayal.The reasons for the failure of rebellion of humans and angels are all about things.Satan relied on external things such as “weapons” and “serpent” to expand his territory.Eve hopes to have divinity through “labor” and “apple”.They both rely on external things to reshape themselves,thus leading to their failure.Finally,the research explores the reasons for the different ending of Satan and human being under the theme of punishment based on thing and order.God created the world in chaos and made all things in the right order.Angels and people have free will,and they choose to violate the agreement based on things established with God,thus destroying the order.To restore the order,God punish Satan and human beings with things.Punishment is a process of establishment,disruption and reconstruction of the order.Therefore,Milton declared the justice of heaven in the moral reflection of things and order.Chapter Two,“Materiality: Thing and Temptations in Paradise Regained”explains Milton’s material temptations based on materiality under the social and cultural background of the 17 th century.First of all,this research explores the cultural connotation from the seemingly simple design of the temptation of food.Milton reveals that the confrontation between Jesus and Satan about food is actually a test of the basic needs of the body,social communication and the desire for power.Through the temptation of food,Milton shows the danger of Satan’s plot and the moral choice made by Jesus.Secondly,it analyzes that the second temptation set by Satan is actually the temptation of material wealth.The author points out that the wealth view hidden under a series of material wealth temptations is the key to decoding the harder test carefully designed by Satan.Satan first proposes to seek help through wealth to obtain land,which corresponds to the force of wealth in the formation of the British Empire and the driving force that wealth can meet human greed.Then Satan induced Jesus to compete for land and obtain secular praise,relating to the wealth view that material wealth can bring secular honor.The temptation of material wealth in the text essentially relates to the transformation of the early modern concept of wealth,which contains Milton’s reflection on the wealth view.Finally,the standing of Jesus and the fall of Satan show that Milton firmly adheres to the kingdom of heaven pursued by the Christian faith and the wealth view of moderation and introspection held by Christians.In his poetry,Milton expresses his Christian wealth ethics through the historical reference and value judgment implied in a series of material wealth temptations.Chapter Three,“Material Unconsciousness: Hair in Samson Agonistes” analyzes Milton’s literary writing on hair and Samson’s life from “material unconsciousness”.Combined with the historical background of England and the social,political and religious connotation of hair in early modern culture,this study analyzes Milton’s literary writing on hair and discusses how hair writing as a thing echoes Samson’s life course.First of all,Samson’s hair changes imply Samson’s change of hero image,physical health and self-awareness.Samson’s hair went through three stages:representing his strength,being cut off and growing again.As a symbol of power,hair represents the agreement between Samson and God.More importantly,he loses his hair and suffer from his lose because of his his cognitive errors.Under the political and religious background of the Early Modern England,Samson’s self-narration of losing hair implied the history of England.As the Chosen one,England people violated God’s law,thus leading the failure of the revolution.Moreover,Samson’s self-redemption also revealed the fate of England.Secondly,the seemingly unrelated and illogical hair details in the drama actually reveal the marriage crisis between Samson and Delilah,that is,their emotional imbalance.Hair is a metaphor for intimacy in early modern English literature and life.Though Samson tried to keep his secret,but he was finally shaved off because he took Delilah as his true love.Delilah excused herself in “true love” with Samson,but details of her hair implied that she had great power of temptation and destruction.Gathering the fragments hair details in the drama,the research uncovers the failed marriage of Samson and Delilah.At the same time,their marriage may imply the liberalization and secularization of marriage in early modern England,and the problems with the “fleet marriage”.Thus,Samson’s experience of marriage served as a warning for the free marriage relationship of the 17 th century.The conclusion puts forward that by investigating the material writing in Milton’s late poetry,it is found that the poet consciously constructs his own literary universe with material narration in the process of creation and expresses his political,theological and moral reflection based on the relationship between human being and things through meditation on things.At the same time,things,as an active force,also subconsciously affect the poet’s poetry writing.Milton’s material writing not only shows his superb literary skills,but also reflects his concern on thing power.This concern not only constructs the rich and colorful material world in poetry,but also reflects his understanding of God based on things,thus making the poet have the“eternal classic status” in the history of world literature.