The Tragedy Of Republicanism And The Comedy Of Puritanism

Milton was a famous English poet,polemicist,and political activist in the 17 th century.He experienced the most complicated the English Civil War,witnessed the death of Charles I,Cromwell's radical Puritan Revolution and the Restoration of Charles II.Although long-term hard work led him to blind,he still created three great epics to continue to expound his Puritanism belief and the love of freedom in his last years after retreating from political stage.This research focuses on Milton's career from the Civil War to Paradise Lost.In order to obtain a relatively complete summary understanding of Milton's thoughts,I will combine analysis of background,history,text and poetry.The research will be divided into five chapters,and the key chapters is the following three parts:The first part is a brief review of Milton's educational career which includes his Cambridge period and self-educational period before the Civil War.In the early age,Milton aspired to deeming poet as his whole-life calling.Through college and self-education,Milton adequately absorbed various knowledge throughout humanism,which would establish a good foundation of education for him to achieve the lofty goal as a poet.The second part is the origin of thought of the English civil war in 1640 and Milton' thoughts of Republicanism.In this section,I will focus on the difference between Republican thoughts during the Civil War and the traditional mixed Monarchy,and emphasizing the unique process of Puritanism in England and how it collaborated with Republicanism,thus led to the revolution in ideology field.Furthermore,i will also introduce the characteristics of Milton's Republicanism thoughts and the difference between him and other republicans.In the last part,in order to reveal the basic idea and theme of Paradise Lost,i will make a brief introduction and analysis of Paradise Lost to present characteristics of Milton's Puritanism and his unique unorthodox creeds.The core of three parts above is Milton's Puritanism and his self-cognition as a poet.Only understanding two points above,can we comprehend Milton's other relevant problems and texts.Finally,based on these analyses,i will make an analogy about Milton's life:if the Civil War which Milton experienced liked an Aristotelian tragedy,soParadise Lost would be seen as an Dantesque Divine Comedy.As far as the cause of analogy,it would be trust that i have given the answer from the summary demonstration of text.