Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2020
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Joshua Reid
Committee Members
Thomas H. Crofts III, Michael Cody, Scott Honeycutt
Abstract
The setting of Milton’s great sequel is puzzling, being called a desert and a “waste wild” (IV. 523) repeatedly and at the same time including descriptions of protective oaks and woody mazes. These conflicting descriptions conjure up several questions: In which environment does the epic take place? Because Milton is so detailed in his adaptations of biblical narrative the inclusion of trees is quite perplexing. While he does tend to expand biblical narrative quite frequently – e.g. Paradise Lost – he rarely initiates a change without just cause. The crux of this particular change centers on what this just cause could be. How does the addition of a few trees change the overall effect of Milton’s brief epic? This thesis thus attempts to find further meaning in Paradise Regained’s setting by exploring three possibilities for this just cause while uncovering what the concept of a tree/forest means in early modern England.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Brooke, ""Wand'ring this Woody Maze": Deciphering the Obscure Wilderness of Paradise Regained" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3749. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3749
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.