John Milton: the First Modern

John Milton is a hero to Millennials: C. S. Lewis based Perelandra on Paradise Lost; Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy mirrors the epic; Mark Morris’s best ballet is “L’Allegro and Il Penseroso”; digital artist Terrance Lindall created virtual images of Paradise Lost for the Oxford U. Press; Comus is the originator and lead Krewe for the New Orleans Carnival, and the name of an acoustic-art rock band. Paradise Lost provides the basis for one of the most successful recent video games, The Talos Principle, in which Milton plays a major character. His autobiographical recoveries from failed ambition provide therapy for modern trauma. We cover, audio-visually, the relevance of Sonnets, Lycidas, Comus, Paradise Lost (Books 1 & 2, 9 & 10), Paradise Regained (Book IV), and Samson Agonistes