By Rachel E. Tomcsik
Prepared for the Friends of Rutgers English Newsletter

The English Department congratulates Professor Ann Baynes Coiro, the recipient of one of twenty-three nationwide American Philosophical Society (APS) Sabbatical Fellowships for 2004-2005. Professor Coiro is using the Fellowship to take a year's leave from teaching to finish her current project, a book about the influence of drama on John Milton's work.

This project grew out of Professor Coiro's teaching at Rutgers, where she specializes in Milton and the late Renaissance. In reading Paradise Lost out loud in class, both she and her students noticed how well-suited the epic poem is to dramatic interpretations. This was no surprise, since Milton first began writing his masterpiece as a play. However, Professor Coiro found it a topic worthy of deeper thought and research. "The dramatic nature of Milton's writing seems incredibly obvious," she says, "but it is something that hasn't been fully explored."

Professor Coiro describes her project as being about both form and historical context. She sees the study of Milton's formal choices, in context, as a way to find continuity between the late Renaissance and the early Restoration, periods which are usually seen as distinct. Although Milton wrote a significant amount during the late Renaissance, he wrote his greatest works during the Restoration. "I want to explore how Milton's interests in drama span these literary historical moments," she says.

Since beginning this project, Professor Coiro says, "I have discovered much more evidence - and more compelling evidence - than I expected to find." She began by re-evaluating Milton's works, including a lesser-known irreverent college play that his Cambridge classmates pressured Milton to write and host. The author was both pleased with and disdainful of the results, setting a pattern that would continue throughout his life, according to Professor Coiro. "The tensions between the character of the author and the performance of his work would remain a constant concern for Milton," she says.

Professor Coiro argues that regardless of the political climate of the time, Milton was consistently influenced by contemporary drama. She is now reconsidering the influence of various playwrights on his writing. Even in Milton's later writings, she says, "he turned his back on the theatre but not on the ethical importance of drama." Drama, in essence, becomes the cohesive element that holds Milton's entire body of work together.

Professor Coiro is excited about the possibilities of this approach, taking a fresh look at Milton's work that will lead to new ideas about the artist and his time. Congratulations to Professor Ann Baynes Coiro on receiving the APS Fellowship, and best wishes for this important new project.