Blending of Renaissance and Reformation in Paradise Lost

Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two poets who are puritans. They are able to use writing and language to portray their ideas on G-d and religion. Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 by Bradstreet and Huswifery by Taylor are similar in the sense that G-d is always a part of their poems, whether it’s direct or through the use of complex writing. Through the use of language and metaphors, Bradstreet conveys that a connection with G-d could be strengthened through destruction while Taylor reveals that a connection can be reinforced through creation.

Fenton, Mary C. “Hope, Land Ownership, and Milton's ‘Paradise Within.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 43, no. 1, 2003, pp. 151–180. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4625062.

Disobedience plays a key role in the unfolding of Milton’s poem. Satan disobeys God because God gave him free will, and causes Eve to disobey Adam, to disobey God.

John Milton produced some of the most memorable Christian texts in English literature. Central pieces of Milton’s work, including Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes, specifically allude to stories that Judaism and Christianity hold in common. Historically, the anti-monarchical regime Milton supported, under the leadership of Cromwell, informally allowed Jews back into England in 1655 after Edward I exiled them in 1290 (Trepp 151). Additionally, seventeenth-century British Christians looked increasingly to Jewish texts to understand their own religion (e.g. Robert Ainsworth and John Seldon), with Hebraic studies from German scholarship and Latin translations of Jewish texts entering during the

Dickinson’s poem 1545 contains multiple meanings and interpretations. It is a criticism of Christianity, however, she criticizes in a rather witty way. Throughout this piece of literature, she uses words that have many meanings to dig at the bible and people’s narrow-minded beliefs within the sacred text. Dickenson also uses repetition to draw attention to certain words. Perhaps the ultimate gibe is that she takes seemingly long, complicated, and popular biblical stories and shortens them to four words or less. By doing this she gives off the impression that the “faded men” who wrote the bible are not as clever as they think; but rather they’re stories are simple and transparent.

     A recurring theme in the poetry of Richard Wilbur is one of God and Christianity.  Biblical references can be found throughout his work, even in poems that have little to do with religion.  However, this theme is quite prominent as there are several poems contain more than passing references. Wilbur provides in these poems ideas that Christians can identify with, either in the Christian lifestyle or straight from the Bible.

What does Renaissance even mean? Renaissance means rebirth in the dictionary’s. The Renaissance was, a movement which stressed the ideas of the classical world, which was described as ending the medieval era and heralding the start of the modern age. The mid fourteenth century is when the Renaissance was dated back to. The Renaissance ended in the 17th century.

BibliographyMilton, John. The Complete Poetry of John Milton. New York; Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. , 1971.

Revolution and reformation; these are two words that are often identified with war, disagreement, and regional effects. While these things do indeed come along with a revolution or reformation, they heed an array of positive and secular outcomes as well. In addition, a revolution can, and usually will, cause a reformation. Conversely, a reformation can cause a revolution. This can happen despite the two things involved with the change or disagreement being seemingly unrelated. The world is connected and affected in ways that we cannot comprehend until we look at our world’s history and see how every small occurrence leads to a landslide of repercussions. The Renaissance is a prime example of this interconnectedness, as it was a time of rebirth, revolution and reformation. During the Renaissance, many changes ensued as a result of scientists, scholars and humanists who realized that they weren 't being taught or treated properly. This idea of unsatisfactory treatment as a result of the humanist spirit of the Renaissance led to the Scientific Revolution and The Protestant Reformation, movements that occurred during the Renaissance that changed life in Western Europe, and eventually the whole world, forever.

The ideas that are received from the poems of John Donne and George Herbert present us with a very distinct view on God, and more generally, religion. Both were writing in the late 1500s and early 1600s; however the methodologies used by each are very distinct.

The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.

The theme of the 'heroic' in John Milton's Paradise Lost is one that has often been the focus of critical debate, namely in the debate surrounding which character is the 'true' hero of the poem. Most critics of the subject have, however, noted that the difficultly in defining the 'hero' of Milton's work is mainly due to our “vague understanding of what constitutes heroism”1 and the fact that “the term itself is equivocal”2. The 'vague' terming of what heroism can be defined as it what draws critics to disagree with one another over the nature of heroism, as Charles Martindale points out that there are 'different models of heroic', many of which Milton employs in his epic poem. To incorporate these different 'models' of the heroic into his

Unlike the Enlightenment era, the Romantic period had no order and turned away from given religions, like Christianity. Romantic expressivism is the creation of the poet’s, or expressivists, own meaning of truth and order, since they are turning away from all known religion. Similarly, they fill these holes by writing about non-religious ideas and making them religious instead. For example Early Wasserman in “Sources of the Self” says that “within itself the modern poem must both formulate its own cosmic [order] and shape the autonomous poetic reality that the cosmic [order] permits” (Wasserman and Taylor 31). Instead of having the uniformness he also explains that, “the Romantic poet has to articulate an original vision of the cosmos” (Wasserman and Taylor 31). This created the opportunities for Romantic expressivist, like William Wordsworth and John Keats, to start from a blank slate with everything that they turned away from, including religion. Wasserman’s emphasis on how the Romantic expressivist was placed with, not a burden, but a responsibility to create their own order and incorporate theoretical spirits or presence into their poems.

In order to give “The Bard” literary standing, and thus provide an effective platform to broadcast his views, the poet makes several careful and deliberate choices in the poem’s structure and language to create a sense age and grandeur for the poem. By referring to both to classical Greek poetry and popular and influential literary pieces, like Milton’s Paradise Lost (Gray 20), Gray manufactures standing for his poem. The full title specifies the poem as a ‘Pindaric Ode’. Though this was not an uncommon form of ode – and one which Gray used frequently – specifying that “The Bard” is a classical style of poem immediately sets the reader up with the understanding that this poem will be written with the Greek style in mind, and thus gives it an almost classical credibility. Although it was written before the Romantic period of literature, Gray’s use of landscape and nature, ask the reader to contrast the landscape to the actions of the English army and begs comparisons between physical nature and human nature. Gray, whilst linking the poem to ancient works and

The period before these two poems were written in was filled with religious dissent that first began with Henry VIII’s establishment of the Church of England. This action began a long chain of religious opposition between this new Protestant movement and Catholicism. From entire Protestant rules such as the rule of Henry’s son, James I, to the slaughter and persecution of Protestants in the rule of Mary I, England was searching for a religious identity that