Thursday, November 05, 2009

Norton Anthology Resources




Arline points to this rich set of resources from Norton Anthology, offering illustrations and references for the immediate historical context in which Milton was working. It has some unusual images from various cultural elements of the time.





From the section, "Civil Wars of Ideas," we read of King James I:

Already an author, James reprinted at the time of his accession his True Law of Free Monarchies (originally published in 1598), defending royal absolutism grounded on the divine right of kings. In his very elaborate coronation procession through the City of London, he passed through spectacular Roman triumphal arches at various stages, thereby identifying himself as a new Augustus. That Roman style was emphasized by the designer Inigo Jones in sets for court masques and in new buildings such as the banqueting hall at Whitehall, the site for many such masques. An early court entertainment, Jonson's Masque of Blackness (1605), represented James as a sun king....On the political side, the central issue became the location of sovereign power in the state....

From the Norton site, an illustration (of Adam) from the 1688 folio edition of Paradise Lost



An engraving from a satire that portrayed Milton as the founder of a sect of "Miltonists" or "Divorcers":

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