Milton and the Idea of the University

This study of Milton's representation of academic experience looks particularly at his Latin Prolusions, orations delivered while a student at Cambridge during the late 1620s and early 1630s. The Prolusions blend speculative, satirical, and expository writing, collectively marked by mastery of rhetorical technique and unevenness of tone from speech to speech. Here Milton first discusses the proper management of a young man's education, and the university's function (or not) as a stimulating context for personal development. A comparison of these early discussions with Milton's other depictions of Cambridge in the Latin elegies, and also with his imaginary academies created in Of Education and Paradise Regained furnish an informative position developed over an extended period of time.