Milton Revealed

Any decline in Milton's modern critical status and diminished audience appeal may be attributable  to insufficient stress on his biography as a prototype for modern temperament, and to too much focus on puritan theological and political debates at the expense of demonstrations of the poet's compelling literary vision of the human condition, as seen in Philip Pullman's prefaces to the Oxford University Press "Paradise Lost." Such broader recognition might be reinforced by an audio-visual approach such as is used in a comparable site at shakespearestaging.berkeley.edu which exploits students' newly heightened visual expectations. Modern technology permits  extensive use of images and video clips of Miltonic materials, such as are already available to the UCB English Department, and seen in Christ's College's Anniversary Website. The increasing interest in performance of Milton's works provides further examples of such heightening resources, including the staging of L'Allegro  and Il Penseroso by the Mark Morris Dance Company. Such materials will be reinforced here by recording of current research, presentations, and other activities concerning Milton, which may be relevant to contemporary experience and helpful to enhancement of the impact of scholars and teachers.

The initial goal of this group will be to establish a listing of resources to reinforce the contemporary impact of Milton's work. The list will provide access to audio-visual material such as the video documentary Milton by Himself distributed by Films for the Humanities, which covers his life and works, while providing new dynamic approaches to their presentation, such as public performances of Comus, Paradise Lost and Samson. The site will identify professional groups actively involved in such activities. For example, there is a libretto based on Paradise Lost by Benjamin Stillingfleet with music by John Christopher Smith the Younger was first performed in 1760, with a printed version that year (re-edited by Kay Stevenson and Margaret Sears in 1998), and many other musical versions of Milton exist. For example, music from Handel's setting of Samson is a regular source for modern concert programming, and Handel has unique empathy for Milton's verse, as seen in his settings for L'Allegro and Il Penseroso used by Mark Morris. In 2006 there were also favorably-reviewed stage performances of a three-hour version of Paradise Lost at the Oxford Playhouse (U.K.) . For several years concert recitations of Paradise Lost have also been successfully presented in England and elsewhere by David Burns, based on recitation of complete books chosen from the full text. As awareness of such achievements is established, our group might aspire to its own programming and initiatives to confirm Milton's modern significance. Suggestions are welcomed.