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John Milton•Born: 9 December 1608 /Birthplace: London, England /Died: 8 November 1674•Best Known As: The author of the epic poem Paradise LostJohn Milton wrote essays, sonnets and, most importantly, Paradise Lost, considered by many scholars the greates t epic poem of the English language. Milton was a Londoner and received his education at Cambridge (1625-32), where he wrote his famous poem "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity."•During his career Milton was an active voice on contemporary issues of politics and religion, and during the English Civil War he sided with the anti-royalists under Oliver Cromwell. His rousing tracts supporting the Commonwealth -- which included an argument defending the execution of Charles I -- led to a position as a foreign secretary (1649). Milton somehow managed to escape serious punishment after the restoration of the monarchy (1660) and lived the remainder of his life quietly.•Blind after 1652, he dictated the entirety of Paradise Lost (1667), the story of Satan's rebellion (and defeat) and the fall of Adam and Eve. Four years later he published the story of Christ's triumph over Satan's temptations in Paradise Regained. His other famous writings include the masque Comus (1637), a defense of free speech titled Areopagiticaz (1644) and several sonnets, including "On His Blindness"("When I consider how my light is spent") and "On His Deceased Wife" ("Methought I saw my late espoused saint").Paradise Lost•Paradise Lost is Milton’s masterpiece. Before its composition, he had had the subject before his mind fora quarter of a century, and made some drafts about the characters and plot.It is a long epic in 12 books,written in blank verse. The stories were taken from the Old Testament:the creation; the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow-angels; their defeat and expulsion from Heaven; the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve; the fallen angels in hell plotting against God; Satan’s temptation of Eve; and the departure of Adam and Eve from Eden.•Theme and Characterization:•The poem, as we are told at the outset, was ― to justify the ways of God to man,‖ to advocate submission to the Almighty. But after reading it, one gets the impression that the main idea of this poem is a revolt again God’s authority.•In the poem God is no better than a selfish despot, seated upon a throne with a chorus of angels about him eternally singing his praises. His long speeches are never pleasing. He is cruel and unjust in his struggle against Satan. His Archangel is bore. His angels are silly.While the rebel Satan who rose against God and, though defeated, still sought for revenge, is by far the most striking character in the poem.•Nine times the space that measures day and night•To mortal men, he with his horrid crew,•Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,•Confounded though immortal. But his doom•Reserved him to more wrath;for now the thought•Both of lost happiness and lasting pain•Torments him;round he throws his baleful eyes•That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,•Mixed with obdurate pride and streadfast hate.•At once, as far as angels ken, he views•The dismal situation waste and wild,•A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,•As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames•No light, but rather darkness visible•Served only to discover sights of woe,•Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace•And rest can never dwell, hope never comes•That comes to all, but torture without end•Still urges, and a fiery deluge,fed•With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.Thus, after the 17th century, the gap between Christianity and science widened: The universe had been discovered by Newton. Everything seemed possible to human reason. The old feeling of dependency on God (or divine inspiration) lost much of its force. But it inspired others to seek answers in other areas…THE 18th CENTURYAGE OF REASON:People were so proud of their rational skills that they tried to apply science to society.Philosophers were the leading thinkers of this period. They took Newton’s idea that the universe is regulated by fixed laws and applied this to the social sciences: politics, economics, law, history, and psychology, and sociology.They believed that laws could be used to find the best type of government, religion, economy and educational system.The EnlightenmentThe Age was defined by its skepticism toward tradition, its confidence in the powers of human reason and of science, and its sense of civilization’s advancement and progress.Use Reason▪think logically by drawing conclusions that are supported and justified by known facts or reasons ▪scientific inquiry became the new faith: only believe what can be proven true▪The enlighteners claimed that reason should be the only,and the final cause of any human thought and activities.And they believed that if the massed were well educated, there would be greater chance for a enlighted human society.Sentimentalism▪Sentimentalism came into being as a result of a bitter discontent on the part of certain enligheners in social reality.Contrary to all reasoning, social injustice still held strong,found the power of reason to be insufficient,and therefore appealed to sentiment as a means of achieving happiness and social justice.Pre-romanticism▪It originated among the conservative groups of men of letters as a reaction against Enlightenment and found its most manifest expression in the “Gothie novel”,the term arising from the fact that the greater part of such romances were devoted to the medieval times.William Blake•Of all the romantic poets of the eighteenth century, Blake is the most independent and the most original.•He was the poet of inspiration alone, following no man’s lead, and obeying no voice but that which heheard in his own mystic soul. Sometimes, we hardly understand this poet of pure fancy, this mys tic, this transcendental madman, who remained to the end of his busy life an incomprehensible child.•Songs of Innocence /The Marriage of Heaven and Hell/ Songs of Experience•In Jerusalem, his theory of Imagination:•The real and eternal world of which the V egetable Universe is but a faint shadow.•The world of imagination is the world of eternity. It is the divine bosom into which we shall all go after the death of the vegetated body.LondonI wander thro’each charter’d street,Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,And mark in every face I meetMarks of weakness, marks of woe.In every cry of every Man,In every Infant’s cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.How the Chimney-sweeper’s cryEvery black’ning Church appalls;And the hapless Soldier’s sighRuns in blood down Palace walls.But most thro’midnight streets I hearHow the youthful harlot’s curseBlasts the new born Infant’s tear,And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.•To see a world in a grain of sand,•And a heaven in a wild flower,•Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,•And eternity in an hour.Daniel Defoe•Defoe is often given the credit for the discovery of the modern novel.•Defoe was a jack-at-all trades, as well as a writer: his interest was largely with the working classes, and notwithstanding many questionable practices, he seems to have had some continued purpose of educating and uplifting the common people.•He was a radical Non-conformist in religion,and was intended by his father for the independent ministry.•Defoe was a journalist and pamphleteer, with a reporter‘s eye.•Prison life•Robinson Crusoe•Captain Singleton,•Journal of the Plague Year•The History of the Devil.•A little after noon I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed so far out that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship. And here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that ifwe had kept on board we had been all safe –that is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left entirety destitute of all comfort and company as I now was.•This forced tears to my eyes again; but asthere was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes –for the weather was hot to extremity – and took the water. But when I came to the ship my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold of.•I swam round her twice, and the second time I spied a small piece of rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hung down by the fore-chains so low, as that with great difficulty I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope I got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold, but that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or, rather earth, thather stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the water.•By this means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to search, and to see what was spoiled and what was free. And, first, I found that all the ship’s provisions were dry and untouched by the water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread room and filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went about other things, forI had no time to lose. I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I took a large dram, andwhich I had, indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what was before me. Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself with many things which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.•It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and I flung as many of them overboard as I could manage for their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might not drive away.•He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight, strong limbs, not too large;tall, and well-shaped; and, as I reckon, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes.•The colour of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive-colour, that had in it something very agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face was round and plump; his nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very goodmouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as ivory.Romanticism in England•Artistic and intellectual movement that originated in the late 18th century and stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions.Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century.•Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. In England, it began with the publication of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads, and ended with Walter Scott’s death.William Wordsworth•William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth,Cumberland,in 1770.He came from a North of England, sound and healthy in its moral tone, and vigorous physically.•The glories of Nature grew upon him, until his soul seemed flooded with unutterable delight when in her presence.•Lyrical Ballads/Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey/The Prelude/The ExcursionComposed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey•These beauteous forms,•Through a long absence, have not been to me•As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:•But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din•Of towns and cities, I have owed to them•In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,•Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;•And passing even into my purer mind,•With tranquil restoration:—feelings too•Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,•As have no slight or trivial influence•On that best portion of a good man's life,•His little, nameless, unremembered, acts•Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,•To them I may have owed another gift,•Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,•In which the burthen of the mystery,•In which the heavy and the weary weight•Of all this unintelligible world,•Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,•In which the affections gently lead us on,—•Until, the breath of this corporeal frame•And even the motion of our human blood•Almost suspended, we are laid asleep•In body, and become a living soul:•While with an eye made quiet by the power•Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,•We see into the life of things.I Travelled Among Unknown MenI travelled among unknown men,In lands beyond the sea;Nor, England! did I know till thenWhat love I bore to thee.'Tis past, that melancholy dream!Nor will I quit thy shoreA second time; for still I seemTo love thee more and more.Among thy mountains did I feelThe joy of my desire; 10And she I cherished turned her wheelBeside an English fire.Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealedThe bowers where Lucy played;And thine too is the last en fieldThat Lucy's eyes surveyed.I W andered Lonely as a Cloud●I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.●Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.●The waves beside them danced: but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed - and gazed - but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:●For oft when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.George Gordon, Lord Byron•George Gordon,Lord Byron,was born in 1788, of a noble family nororious for their passionate temper, their amatory adventures, and their thriftlessness.•To his extraordinary physical beauty, his lameness added a touch of pathos.•personal fascination Corrupt Regency society the head of the revolutionary forcesWhen We Two Parted•When we two parted/ In silence and tears,/Half broken-hearted/ To see for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold,/ Colder thy kiss;/Truly that hour foretold/ Sorrow to this!•The dew of the morning/ Sunk chill on my brow-/It felt like the warning/ Of what I feel now.Thy vows are all broken,/ And light is thy fame:/I hear thy name spoken,/ And share in its shame.•They name thee before me,/ A knell to mine ear;/A shudder comes o'er me- Why went thou so dear?They know not I knew thee / Who knew thee too well:Long, long shall I rue thee, / Too deeply to tell.•In secret we met-/ In silence I grieve,/That thy heart could forget,/ Thy spirit deceive.If I should meet thee/ After long year,/How should I greet thee?/ With silence and tears.She Walks in Beauty●She walks in beauty, like the night /Of cloudless climes and starry skies;●And all that's best of dark and bright /Meet in her aspect and her eyes:●Thus mellow'd to that tender light /Which heaven to gaudy day denies.●One shade the more, one ray the less, /Had half impair'd the nameless grace●Which waves in every raven tress, /Or softly lightens o'er her face;●Where thoughts serenely sweet express /How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.●And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, /So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,●The smiles that win. the tints that glow,/But tell of days in goodness spent,●A mind at peace with all below, /A heart whose love is innocent!Don Juan⏹Byron realized the fact that the life of an individual is revealed in its relations with social, political andhistorical surroundings.⏹Love scenes of great lyrical intensity are interwoven with beautiful descriptions of southern natureFrom Canto II(The Isles of Greece)⏹The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!/Where burning Sappho loved and sung.⏹Where grew the arts of war and peace,/Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!⏹Eternal summer gilds them yet,/But all, except their sun, is set.⏹The Scian and the Teian muse,/ The hero’s harp, the lover’s lute,⏹Have found the fame your shores refuse;/Their place of birth alone is mute⏹To sounds which echo further west/Than your sires ―Islands of the Blest‖Percy Bysshe Shelley♦The curious mixture in Shelley of the visionary and the serious thinker is sharply brought out by the fact that the writings thus fantastically put in circulation are often of grave and simple eloquence, wise in counsel and temperate in tone, and that most of the reforms which they advocate have since been enacted into law.♦If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;♦If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee:♦A wave to pant beneath thy power , and share♦The impulse of thy strength, only less free♦Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even♦I were as im my boyhood, and could be♦The comrade of thy wanderigs over Heaven,♦As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed♦Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven♦As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.♦Oh, lift me as a wave , a leaf, a cloud!♦I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!♦A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed♦One too lke thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.。