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In: EN6009, Renaissance English

Given that Milton’s Paradise Lost has been critically evaluated for centuries, the epic poem presents many themes and questions for the reader to untangle. This rich text has elicited critics to analyse Milton’s cosmology, theology, politics, and his views on authority, free will, and women. Work has been previously done to chart Milton’s universe, and Satan’s traversal through it. For my dissertation, I will be positing that we can reimagine this journey as one through spheres of wombs. I am interested in comparing and contrasting these spheres through their creative power or lack thereof, metaphorical insemination and asexual reproduction, the male womb, impotent versus fruitfulRead More →

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In: Middle English, Renaissance English

A few weeks ago our class read The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry, a closet drama from the Jacobean period that deals in part with the female act of speech. While our class read the material with the role of women in mind, there is also an ethnic/religious component to the play. This is most prominent in the moral abhorrence of Edomites from the perspective of Israelites. The titular character and her family belong to the Israelite lineage, while Mariam’s cruel husband Herod and his family are descended from Edomites, amplifying the hostility between the two parties. While I had heard ofRead More →

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In: Creative, Middle English, Old English, Renaissance English

Text Version Here*: Memory, O Memory, Mistress of Misadventure Mass that moves the firmament of my mind Mnemocentric monarch, Madam Maker, my demise Petrifying paramour, you’ve panged me till this point Painfully pulling, or with pleasant palms persuading Down paths that preach of penance for the pitiful  Deceptively pricking poison in the purity of a child No longer can I act attritious amour, a vulnerable veneer Veiling vaults of vexing vermin fettered, infested in my chest No longer can you suffocate my senses- Enamored in another world, feeding phantom flesh My moth-eaten mouth murmurs ‘O Maria,’ as bog and body moldering matrimony make No longerRead More →

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In: Renaissance English

Milton’s descriptive work in Paradise Lost is admirable, capturing the reader’s imagination; Milton dazzles us with defamiliarized, celestial descriptions of Earth, and engrosses us in horrific descriptions of Hell. In fact, it was Milton’s description of Hell in Book 1 that captivated me as a high school student studying excerpts from the epic for the first time. In this blog post, my goal is to exemplify Milton’s use of prosody and poetic device in an excerpt from Book 2 that caught my attention while re-reading it some days ago. It was the shift in meter at line 621 that made me pause and do someRead More →

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In: Middle English, Renaissance English

The Trojan War has captivated the imagination of writers spanning countless generations. From the authors of Antiquity, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, to contemporary adaptations, the story has been translated, retold, and adapted in various ways. Each iteration focuses on different points of the narrative and on different characters. Some maintain the epic heroic spirit of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, while others choose a more romantic or psychological approach. The syllabus of the Medieval and Renaissance English Literature MA at UCC offers a few adaptations of the tale: Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Robert Henryson’s The Testiment of Cresseid, and George Chapman’s Achilles’ Shield. AtRead More →