Britské studie - seminář-zápisky

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; → by chance – by accident, nothing is eternal, everything changes, trim – to adjust, cut a little bit(hair) – change is eternal law (from love to philosophical question of eternality)

But thy eternal summer shall not fade → fade – to disappear/when plants die, thy = your – she will not get old, summer – metaphor for the beauty of her soul

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, → brag – to pretend that I can do more than I really can, wander – wander in park, potulovat se, relax; (DEATH IS MASCULINE – that’s why “his”)

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: - eternal lines = this poem – she will be in this poem beautiful forever, you will grow – because of this poem, it depends on the readers

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, → readers – if there are no more readers to read, then it dies

So long lives this and this gives life to thee. → it gives life to what it represents

John Milton

• He lived in 17th century

• He is a poet

• He was born in London in the middle class family

  • Middle class = people who had a shop

• His father was a musician and also scrivener = people couldn’t write so they paid money to a people who write letters, complaints…

• He belong to a group called Puritans – people who believed that the church does not follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, people and priest should go back to pure teaching of Jesus Christ

• They believed in sober life, morality, sex only after marriage and with your partner, no use of bad words, people should get married and have families (not being monks or live in isolation), human being should work, if they make profit it is okay but the profit must be spent for moral purposes, they didn’t like theatre because it was immoral, devilish art – in the theatre people “die” etc and they didn’t want to believe something which is not real

• Good Christian should have family – wife/husband, children

• They loved music, it was the purest immaterial art

• He was very intelligent, his parents sent him to school in London – Cambridge, he spent several years there

• Then he went abroad – grand tour – something that the sons of aristocrats undertook, after graduation young men were sent abroad – France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and they spent there about 2 years meeting people – it was meant to help these people to confront their knowledge to reality

  • It was very expensive

  • Middle class sons usually didn’t go – he was very intelligent, he was an exception

• He met Galileo Galilei

• Milton was a good musician – Monteverdi - author of opera

• He became Minister for foreign affairs

• 1649 – king Charles I. of England - he died because he was put on trial like any other citizen

• Defensio prima, Defensio secunda – political essays – John Milton wrote them

• The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce – he uses Bible in very original way

• Essay – Areopagitica – he supports the idea of freedom of speech

  • If you wanted to print a book, you needed a licence – it was because of censor, they wanted to control books