Welcome to the Research Journal for my project. Below you will find entries that document my thought process as I work:
7 Dec. 2008
1637- "Year of Deaths" Milton's mother, Ben Jonson, and Edward King all die. Edward King, classmate at cambridge, same age, also a poet, etc. Bernice Neugarten says "personalization of death" occurs when member of age group dies. Would normally happen at middle age. Maybe not for Milton? Early midlife crisis? Milton only 29 here, very young. "Lycidas" a record of his struggle with this phenomenon? Uncouth swain and Lycidas are so similar because Milton sees his life as parallel to King's?
What does Milton think about death? Religiously? Find out what bible he would have used, Latin or King James. How does this play in Paradise Lost? Falling angels a symbol for death? What about "mortalism," people completely dying but coming back at "last day"? Where does this occur in Paradise Lost? Satan never completely "dies," he's just shunted away. Maybe a clue in personification of death in Book 2? Perhaps Milton's prose will shed light on this issue?
11 Dec. 2008
Maybe Milton's morbidity extends beyond mere images of death and falling. Is Hell a place of death or merely an alternative state? How far does Milton go in imitating Dante's concept of descent? Maybe Milton has become comfortable, even at peace, with death because he is so at ease writing about Hell and Satan. Does the trip to Italy spur an increased interest in Dante's visions of Hell?
When does Milton switch from Classical style epic to Christian style? It seems like when he gets back from Italy he's on a different track. Does this track begin where Lycidas leaves off? "Fresh woods and pastures new" could have morphed into Hell. Find out more about the trip to Italy; who does he meet besides Galileo? Track down longer Milton biography.
Never forget, Satan is the father of Death. Both literally and figuratively for Milton.
16 Dec. 2008
The Elliott Jaques essay arrived today. It doesn't survey nearly as many artists as I thought it was going to, but its central focus is on Dante. I don't know if this research is too old or not, but I can at least tie his interpretation of the Commedia to Milton. In addition, I can show that Dante's influence on Milton helped him to work through his own feelings about death.
This essay is definitely from the 60s: so many references to "genius" and "greatness." I'm going to have to be very careful to work around the really old stuff, but still use what is useful to me. I should definitely consult someone in the psych department about current opinions on midlife crises. Hopefully there are some more recent studies that I can incorporate.
6 Jan. 2009
Delved into Lewalski's biography today. Like Wilson, she points out the importance of Milton's similarity to King. However, she takes another step closer to my argument, asserting this event "forced Milton to confront the terror of mortality in relation to the issue of vocation" (Lewalski 71). This is another great piece of evidence in support of my claim, but like the others Lewalski ignores the psychological, as opposed to the merely emotional, reaction to this event. I've read it in more than one biography now but it still seems ridiculously to me: how could this question come up in 1637 and not haunt him for the rest of his life? It's as if these biographers are saying that he works through the issue completely in "Lycidas."
The issue of quotation marks vs. italics comes up again here. You'd think after almost 400 years everyone could get behind the same way of writing the title of this poem.
Keep plugging away on the fact that it's a psychological reaction as opposed to a merely emotional one. This and the expansion into Paradise Lost is what separates my argument from Lewalski's, Wilson's, etc.
10 Jan. 2009
Had a great meeting with Dr. Livosky from the Psych dept. on Thursday. She pointed out a lot of things about the psychological end of the research that I wouldn't have known, but most of all she let me know what area of Psych I'm working in: Personality Psych. It could be considered Developmental Psych as well, but that's more narrow.
She said that in addition to personalization of death, Neugarten also talks about "off-time" events, which is when something happens, obviously, outside of the normal course of life events. This sounds like exactly what happened to Milton. So far I haven't found the phrase in my Neugarten book; I'll have to look for more of her stuff until I find it.
She also said I should look at Jung's work on the middle of life. She also said that the developmental psychologists Levinson, Chiriboga, and Tamir have information on the more current of view of midlife. There is a debate currently going on about whether midlife crises exist at all, but there seems to be enough psychological evidence to make this specific case about Milton.
She also suggested I stress the fact that Milton experience multiple deaths and the added impact that would have given the experiences.
27 Jan. 2009
My portion of the workshopping was done today. Kallen and Hannah were very helpful in talking out some of the ways in which the paper can extend into Paradise Lost with surety. It was also really nice to be able to talk to some people about Milton and try to express my ideas orally. It came out sounding a lot more complicated than it is; I need to work on that before the presentation.
Also, Dr. Reed and I had a major breakthrough about the scene in Book 12 in which Adam discovers death and laments it. Abel causes personalization of death in Adam in EXACTLY THE SAME way that King caused it for Milton. This is huge! Now the connections between Milton and Adam are direct and important; Milton uses first the swain and then Adam to parse out his feelings about death. This is what I've been looking for to draw a straight line between the two poems.
18 Feb. 2009
Dotting the i's and crossing the t's on my project, as well as preparing my presentation tomorrow. After a lot of consideration, I've decided not to include anything from Freud or Lacan, despite the fact that I'm taking a psychoanalytic approach. They are both concerned with stages much earlier in the life course than I am dealing with. I think a nod to them in the paper would really be a derivative comment at this point.
I feel good about the argument; it's strong and clear. I find it original and interesting, but it is up to me to convince my audience of that tomorrow. The most important choices to come will be what to take out of this lengthy argument as part of the oral presentation. Only one example from Lycidas and maybe two from Paradise Lost, to underscore the importance of the way the influence of King's death carries through Milton's life.
7 Dec. 2008
1637- "Year of Deaths" Milton's mother, Ben Jonson, and Edward King all die. Edward King, classmate at cambridge, same age, also a poet, etc. Bernice Neugarten says "personalization of death" occurs when member of age group dies. Would normally happen at middle age. Maybe not for Milton? Early midlife crisis? Milton only 29 here, very young. "Lycidas" a record of his struggle with this phenomenon? Uncouth swain and Lycidas are so similar because Milton sees his life as parallel to King's?
What does Milton think about death? Religiously? Find out what bible he would have used, Latin or King James. How does this play in Paradise Lost? Falling angels a symbol for death? What about "mortalism," people completely dying but coming back at "last day"? Where does this occur in Paradise Lost? Satan never completely "dies," he's just shunted away. Maybe a clue in personification of death in Book 2? Perhaps Milton's prose will shed light on this issue?
11 Dec. 2008
Maybe Milton's morbidity extends beyond mere images of death and falling. Is Hell a place of death or merely an alternative state? How far does Milton go in imitating Dante's concept of descent? Maybe Milton has become comfortable, even at peace, with death because he is so at ease writing about Hell and Satan. Does the trip to Italy spur an increased interest in Dante's visions of Hell?
When does Milton switch from Classical style epic to Christian style? It seems like when he gets back from Italy he's on a different track. Does this track begin where Lycidas leaves off? "Fresh woods and pastures new" could have morphed into Hell. Find out more about the trip to Italy; who does he meet besides Galileo? Track down longer Milton biography.
Never forget, Satan is the father of Death. Both literally and figuratively for Milton.
16 Dec. 2008
The Elliott Jaques essay arrived today. It doesn't survey nearly as many artists as I thought it was going to, but its central focus is on Dante. I don't know if this research is too old or not, but I can at least tie his interpretation of the Commedia to Milton. In addition, I can show that Dante's influence on Milton helped him to work through his own feelings about death.
This essay is definitely from the 60s: so many references to "genius" and "greatness." I'm going to have to be very careful to work around the really old stuff, but still use what is useful to me. I should definitely consult someone in the psych department about current opinions on midlife crises. Hopefully there are some more recent studies that I can incorporate.
6 Jan. 2009
Delved into Lewalski's biography today. Like Wilson, she points out the importance of Milton's similarity to King. However, she takes another step closer to my argument, asserting this event "forced Milton to confront the terror of mortality in relation to the issue of vocation" (Lewalski 71). This is another great piece of evidence in support of my claim, but like the others Lewalski ignores the psychological, as opposed to the merely emotional, reaction to this event. I've read it in more than one biography now but it still seems ridiculously to me: how could this question come up in 1637 and not haunt him for the rest of his life? It's as if these biographers are saying that he works through the issue completely in "Lycidas."
The issue of quotation marks vs. italics comes up again here. You'd think after almost 400 years everyone could get behind the same way of writing the title of this poem.
Keep plugging away on the fact that it's a psychological reaction as opposed to a merely emotional one. This and the expansion into Paradise Lost is what separates my argument from Lewalski's, Wilson's, etc.
10 Jan. 2009
Had a great meeting with Dr. Livosky from the Psych dept. on Thursday. She pointed out a lot of things about the psychological end of the research that I wouldn't have known, but most of all she let me know what area of Psych I'm working in: Personality Psych. It could be considered Developmental Psych as well, but that's more narrow.
She said that in addition to personalization of death, Neugarten also talks about "off-time" events, which is when something happens, obviously, outside of the normal course of life events. This sounds like exactly what happened to Milton. So far I haven't found the phrase in my Neugarten book; I'll have to look for more of her stuff until I find it.
She also said I should look at Jung's work on the middle of life. She also said that the developmental psychologists Levinson, Chiriboga, and Tamir have information on the more current of view of midlife. There is a debate currently going on about whether midlife crises exist at all, but there seems to be enough psychological evidence to make this specific case about Milton.
She also suggested I stress the fact that Milton experience multiple deaths and the added impact that would have given the experiences.
27 Jan. 2009
My portion of the workshopping was done today. Kallen and Hannah were very helpful in talking out some of the ways in which the paper can extend into Paradise Lost with surety. It was also really nice to be able to talk to some people about Milton and try to express my ideas orally. It came out sounding a lot more complicated than it is; I need to work on that before the presentation.
Also, Dr. Reed and I had a major breakthrough about the scene in Book 12 in which Adam discovers death and laments it. Abel causes personalization of death in Adam in EXACTLY THE SAME way that King caused it for Milton. This is huge! Now the connections between Milton and Adam are direct and important; Milton uses first the swain and then Adam to parse out his feelings about death. This is what I've been looking for to draw a straight line between the two poems.
18 Feb. 2009
Dotting the i's and crossing the t's on my project, as well as preparing my presentation tomorrow. After a lot of consideration, I've decided not to include anything from Freud or Lacan, despite the fact that I'm taking a psychoanalytic approach. They are both concerned with stages much earlier in the life course than I am dealing with. I think a nod to them in the paper would really be a derivative comment at this point.
I feel good about the argument; it's strong and clear. I find it original and interesting, but it is up to me to convince my audience of that tomorrow. The most important choices to come will be what to take out of this lengthy argument as part of the oral presentation. Only one example from Lycidas and maybe two from Paradise Lost, to underscore the importance of the way the influence of King's death carries through Milton's life.