Rewritten to aftertimes : Adaptations of John Milton's poetry, 1674-1767
Abstract
Post-Romantic Milton criticism often sees a dichotomy in the poet's thought. On the one hand, he is considered a champion of modern values, such as the freedom of worship and the freedom of speech, and a strong proponent of open-mindedness and restless intellectual inquiry. On the other, his religious-moral system is often considered brutally restrictive in its emphasis upon human sinfulness and depravity and for its insistence on self-control and obedience to God as the pathway to salvation. Little attention, however, has been paid to how the eighteenth century contributed to this dichotomy, and, in particular, how musical adaptations of the eighteenth century acted as "staged criticism" that regularly highlighted the paradox in Milton's thought that one must be constrained in order to be free. In the century, five adaptations of Milton's poetry appeared on the British stage: Comus, L'Allegro ed Il Penseroso, Samson, Paradise Lost: An Oratorio, and Lycidas. These adaptations consistently create an aura of religious and moral authority around the poet, celebrating him as a national literary hero and a representative of true "British" values, such as piety, liberty, and temperance. In doing so, adaptations exploited Milton's reputation as a defender of British values while also ignoring, erasing, or soft-pedaling around those facets of his thought that could not be easily appropriated into a broadly-defined notion of "Britishness." They also simplified Milton's religious ideas, converting his mature poetry from their rigorous theological inquiries into musical acts of devotion that espoused moral orthodoxy and a comforting soteriology. The picture emerging of the poet in these adaptations is one of Milton as the poet of discipline. Thus, well before the Romantics made a rebel out of Milton, the eighteenth century made a conservative "extremist" out of him through their simplified renderings of his religious thought, and they did so despite avidly professing an unwavering fidelity to the "spirit" of his works and thought.
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- OSU Dissertations [11222]