I'm the one who chose the Milton quotation that is engraved on the right side of the library entrance, and I really do wish we had the time to read Aereopagitica, Milton's great work in defense of free learning:

In this work, Milton describes his intense belief in the importance of humanity's proper use of reason: "God uses not to captivate under a perpetual childhood of prescription, but trusts him with the gift of reason to be his own chooser."  This gift of reason and choice does, of course, end up leading to the fall of man, as we will see in Paradise Lost--but Milton will argue that the gift of choice was necessary: "I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat....That which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary."

Milton believed that  freedom of choice is central to Man's nature, and he will "justify the ways of God to Man" in Paradise Lost by defending God's decision to allow Mankind to fall. As he argues in Aereopagitica: "Many there be that complain of divine providence for suffering Adam to transgress. Foolish tongues! when God gave him reason, he gave him freedom to choose, for reason is but choosing; he had been else a mere artificial Adam, such an Adam as he is in the motions [puppet shows]. We ourselves esteem not of that obedience, or love, or gift, which is of force.  God therefore left him free, set before him a provoking object, ever almost in his eyes; herein consisted his merit, herein the right of h is reward, the praise of his abstinence."  Milton believes that God gave Man free will, since without free will humans would be puppets instead of worthy worshipers of God.

Because Milton is so convinced of the importance of free choice, he also places high value on human responsibility.  He argues in Aereopagitica that we must constantly seek to develop and test our faith and knowledge. Though faith is of primary importance, he wants to be sure that each individual understands faith and does not follow the authority of other humans instead of following God. Milton is a radical Protestant  who supports the idea of "the priesthood of the individual believer."  He argues strongly against blind acceptance of religious truth, arguing that even if one believes the "right" thing, this belief has no value if the individual believes it only because some person told him to believe it: "A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the Assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy."

Milton put his beliefs to the test; he wrote a long personal exploration of his theology, called De Doctrina Christiana (Of Christian Doctrine) that was never intended for publication. It explored his own personal understanding of theology based entirely on his reading of the Bible--and as a result, it contained many statements that the established church of the time would have identified as heretical.  If it had been published, he could have been subject to death sentences many times over.

Epic Conventions

Historical Context

PL Book I

PL Book II

PL Book III 

PL Book IV

PL Book IX

English 305: Milton