English History and Metaphysical Poetry PDF

CHARLES I Charles I (1625-1649), son of James I, was a shy king who avoided mingling with ordinary people but was passionate about art, becoming a patron of painters like Peter Paul Rubens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck. He married Henrietta Maria, a Catholic princess from France, which mad...

CHARLES I Charles I (1625-1649), son of James I, was a shy king who avoided mingling with ordinary people but was passionate about art, becoming a patron of painters like Peter Paul Rubens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck. He married Henrietta Maria, a Catholic princess from France, which made his Protestant subjects suspicious. Believing in the divine right of kings, Charles wanted to rule without Parliament. He rst summoned Parliament to request money for a war with Spain, but when they refused to raise taxes, he dismissed them and ruled alone for eleven years. This led to the Petition of Rights in 1628, which limited his power to imprison people without trial and impose taxes without Parliament's consent. Charles ignored this, believing his authority was God-given. In 1634, he imposed ship money, a tax traditionally collected only during wartime, which caused widespread resistance. Financial di culties forced him to summon the 'Long Parliament' in 1640, which aimed to limit his power. Tensions escalated when Charles tried to arrest ve Members of Parliament in 1642, leading to the English Civil War between his supporters, the Royalists (Cavaliers), and the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) led by Oliver Cromwell. The Cavaliers were mainly lords, gentry, and Church of England members, known for their long hair and colorful clothing. In contrast, the Roundheads were Puritans, small landowners, artisans, and merchants, known for their short hair and simple, dark clothing. Charles’s experienced but poorly funded army was defeated by the better- nanced and well-trained Parliamentarians at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. In 1649, Charles I was tried and executed, and England became a republic called the Commonwealth, with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. Cromwell ruled as a military dictator, implementing strict religious reforms and high taxes, which caused widespread discontent. Although he strengthened the navy and expanded trade through victories against the Dutch and Spanish, his domestic policies were unpopular. After Cromwell’s death in 1658, his weak successor could not maintain power. In 1660, the monarchy was restored when Parliament invited Charles I’s son, Charles II, to return from exile, ending the Commonwealth. METAPHYSICAL POETRY The metaphysical poets re ected on the transition from the Renaissance to the modern age. The term “metaphysical poetry” was introduced by the 18th-century literary critic and poet Samuel Johnson (Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets). "Metaphysical" means "beyond physics" and refers to a reality that goes beyond what can be perceived by the senses. This type of poetry explores the transcendent and human inner life, addressing questions about the nature of the universe and the role of humans in it. Metaphysical poets were known for their originality and direct style, and they had to demonstrate sensitivity, knowledge, and intelligence. Their poems included references to religion, astrology, alchemy, geography, and philosophy. To create freshness, they used questions, while imperatives re ected a rebellious attitude. They crafted unusual images and metaphors, known as conceits, designed to surprise the reader. In addition, they used paradoxes, epigrammatic conciseness, and dramatic opening lines, often beginning their poems in medias res. They experimented with di erent verse forms rather than following a xed structure. Initially forgotten due to the preference for a clearer style, they were rediscovered in the 20th century thanks to the essays of T.S. Eliot. PURITAN BELIEFS This movement, which emerged under Henry VIII but became prominent in the 17th century, aimed to "purify" the Church of England, which was still seen as too close to Catholicism. The Puritans viewed religion as a guiding principle for all aspects of life and believed that religious unity was essential for the well-being of society. For them, the church was like an auditorium where the pulpit and sermons had both political and religious signi cance, reaching an even wider audience. While Anglicanism, like Catholicism, emphasized rituals, the beauty of churches, and ecclesiastical hierarchy, the Puritans rejected these traditions. They believed that every individual had the right to interpret the Bible independently and that clergy should not be distinguished by their clothing but by their moral conduct. The movement was particularly strong in London and southwestern England, attracting followers among the clergy, nobility, merchants, and members of Parliament. The Puritans believed in the Calvinist theory of predestination: a person’s fate was already determined by God, and only His fl fi fl ff ffi fi fi fi fi  grace could save them from damnation. Because of this belief, they considered hard work and strict discipline essential. Poverty was seen almost as a sin, while leisure time was viewed as a dangerous distraction that could corrupt the mind. THE RESTORATION – SUMMARY In 1660, the monarchy was restored in England after the Puritan period, and Charles II became king. His court was considered highly immoral, and when London was struck by the plague (1665) and the Great Fire (1666), the Puritans interpreted these events as divine punishments. Charles II died without an heir, and in 1685 the throne passed to his brother, James II, a Catholic. In 1688, the birth of a son from his Catholic wife, Mary of Modena, who led Protestant nobles to invite William of Orange to take the throne. James ed, and William and his wife Mary were crowned as rulers. Their reign marked the beginning of constitutional monarchy with the Bill of Rights of 1689, which limited the king’s power in favor of Parliament. Anne After Queen Mary’s death in 1694, her husband William III reigned until 1702. Since the couple had no children, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement (1701), excluding Catholics from the throne. Upon William’s death, his sister-in-law Anne became queen. She was a devout Protestant and widely loved by the people. During her reign, the Act of Union (1707) was passed, uniting England and Scotland into the United Kingdom, with a shared Parliament in Westminster. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession, strengthening Britain’s position: France recognized the Protestant succession and expelled the Catholic Stuarts, while England gained territories in Canada and a monopoly on the slave trade with Spanish America. Anne had no surviving heirs, so upon her death in 1714, the Stuart dynasty ended. The throne passed to her closest Protestant relative, George, Elector of Hanover, who became George I, marking the beginning of the Hanoverian dynasty. The Scienti c Revolution – Summary The concept of method probably came from the Greek philosopher Socrates (ca 469-399 BC). Modern science developed through the use of rigorous methods. The deductive method was used in mathematics and logic, in which the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises; the classi cation method grouped organisms based on their characteristics, while the experimental method, introduced by scientists such as Galileo and Kepler, relied on observation and veri cation through hypotheses and experiments. This rationalist approach was not seen as a threat to religion in England but rather as a way to better understand the universe. Isaac Newton culminated this revolution by formulating the laws of gravity and motion, explaining the movement of the planets. JOHN MILTON HIS LIFE John Milton was a committed Protestant and Humanist scholar who viewed his poetic inspiration as a gift from God. He opposed all forms of tyranny, including political, religious, and domestic. Born into a wealthy Protestant family in London in 1608, he studied Latin, Greek, and Italian at Cambridge, earning a degree in 1632. Between 1632 and 1637, he published works celebrating chastity as the source of human joy and freedom, including his elegy Lycidas , which criticized the Church’s corruption. Milton traveled through Europe in 1638, meeting Galileo in Fiesole, near Florence. He supported Cromwell and the Commonwealth, even becoming Secretary for Foreign Languages in 1649. Milton married Mary Powell in 1642, but their marriage ended in divorce, which led him to write Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. He also wrote important pamphlets like Aeropagitica (on freedom of the press), Of Education (on education in all elds of knowledge), and Eikonoklastes (trying to explain the execution of the King). Milton became blind around 1652, but blindness helped to stimulate his verbal richness. After the monarchy was restored in 1660, his republican works were banned, and he was brie y imprisoned. He was later pardoned. His experiences of personal and political loss inspired his great epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), followed by Paradise Regained (1671). He died in London in 1674. Plot Paradise Lost begins in medias res, with Satan and his rebel angels chained in a lake of re in Hell. The most beautiful of the angels, Satan, whose name means "enemy of God" in Hebrew, has been cast out of Heaven with his followers after their defeat in the war. The fallen angels debate whether to wage another war with God but instead decide to corrupt God's new creation, Man. Satan takes it upon himself to execute the plan. He enters the Garden of Eden and persuades Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. As a result, they are expelled from Paradise and must confront the struggles of the outside world together. SETTING fi fi fl fl fi fi fi  Although Milton was familiar with the Copernican cosmology, which places the Sun at the center of the universe instead of the Earth, he based his universe on the more traditional Ptolemaic system. In Milton’s Heaven, God sits on His throne, surrounded by the nine orders of angels. The tenth order, which revolted under Satan, has been cast into a dreadful realm, Hell, which lies below Chaos and serves as the antithesis of Heaven. CHARACTERS Although it is absurd to suggest that Milton intended Satan to be the hero of his masterpiece, at the beginning of the poem, Satan displays many qualities of the tragic epic hero: leadership, courage, a refusal to accept defeat, and a determination to escape Hell and attack Man. Milton seems to have infused a great deal of his own soul into this character. Having opposed tyranny and rebelling against the political authority of the king and the religious authority of the Church of England, he may have sympathized with Satan’s situation, seeing some parallels with his own life. This could explain why Satan is portrayed as such a fascinating and complex character. There is also sympathy for Adam, whose choice to disobey God highlights his full, fragile humanity. He is a rational character with a remarkable relationship with God. His main weakness, however, is his infatuation with Eve. Themes Obedience and rebellion: Paradise Lost begins by stating that the main theme of the poem is “Man’s rst Disobedience." It tells the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, explaining how and why it happened. It is also the story of Satan’s rebellion—he disobeys God, is cast out of Heaven, and leads a rebellion in Hell. Fate and free will: Satan is determined to be free, even though the cost of this freedom is his banishment to Hell. God, on the other hand, claims to give Man free will, yet seems to know everything that will happen Style The style of Paradise Lost is grand and serious, tting the monumental subject matter. It is elevated and complex, utilizing Latin syntax, di cult vocabulary, inversions, and circumlocutions. Milton employed a new kind of blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter—marked by sonorous magni cence. The diction is far removed from ordinary speech, contributing to the poem’s formal tone. Additionally, Milton makes use of elements typical of the grand style, such as epic similes— extended comparisons that often stretch across several lines, used to amplify the heroic nature of the characters and events. Why an Epic? Milton chose the epic genre due to the magnitude of his subject: the fall of Man. He adhered to traditional epic conventions by beginning the poem with a clear statement of its theme. Characters like God, Satan, Christ, Man, and the fallen angels are reminiscent of the warriors and heroes in Homer’s epics. However, Milton rede nes the traditional epic hero. Unlike heroes like Achilles, who seek glory on the battle eld, Milton’s hero is a more philosophical gure. Satan, driven by self-interest, is incapable of doing good—even for his followers, the fallen angels. fi fi fi fi ffi fi fi