| dc.description.abstract | This thesis presents the argument that in John Milton’s theology, political philosophy and poetry there is an underexplored relationship between utopianism and millenarianism. The study defines this relationship as the utopian millennium, through which the utopian values of control and regulation secure a chiliastic future. In a series of comparative chapters, the thesis traces how Milton’s utopian millenarianism can be situated within and how it develops through the intellectual, political and radical landscape of mid-seventeenth-century England. The study analyses Milton’s theology and political philosophy alongside contemporary intellectuals and radical figures, such as, amongst others, Samuel Hartlib, James Harrington, Thomas Hobbes, Marchamont Nedham, and Gerrard Winstanley. It also considers how the utopian and millenarian ideas of Milton’s prose works are reflected in his epic poetry. In doing so, the study observes how Milton’s gradual loss of faith in the English people encourages utopian formulations in the hope of ensuring the realisation of his eschatology. Milton’s growing disillusionment with the people coincides with his growing elitism: from the early 1640s to the end of his life, he placed his faith of those who he believed were capable of realising the millennium in fewer and fewer people. In contrast to the studious community of London in Areopagitica in 1644, by 1671, Milton idealises perfect, elect individuals, to whom he can aspire, if not with whom he self-identifies. Milton’s utopian millennium, tolerant and yet elitist, unorthodox and yet conservative, encodes the dynamic changes of the political and intellectual landscape of the mid-seventeenth-century. | en_GB |
