Abihail Geremew | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Abihail Geremew
Title: Paradise Lost, Paradise Deferred: Combining Close and Distant Reading in Milton’s Seminal Text
Majors: English; Statistical & Data Sciences
Advisors: Daimys Garcia; Colby Long

This thesis examines John Milton’s Paradise Lost through an innovative integration of close and distant reading methods, using deconstruction theory alongside computational text analysis. By applying sentiment analysis, principal components analysis (PCA), and hierarchical clustering to Milton’s epic, I identify three distinct emotional clusters that reveal sophisticated patterns in Milton’s emotional orchestration of the poem. These computational findings are then bridged with close readings through a Derridean lens, examining how Milton establishes logocentrism and hierarchical binary oppositions while simultaneously destabilizing them through Satan’s deconstructive rhetoric and the introduction of “otherness” outside God’s created order. The emotional similarities revealed between seemingly disparate narrative moments – such as Satan’s rebellion and humanity’s fall, or divine perspective and human transgression – suggest Milton creates what I term an “emotional theology” that complicates straightforward binary oppositions and transforms traditional religious narrative. This methodological approach, combining computational “deformance” with deconstructive reading, illuminates how Milton’s sophisticated emotional architecture positions readers to evaluate theological concepts through complex psychological patterns rather than simple moral instruction, potentially explaining the historical shifts in religious narrative that Christopher Ricks attributes to Milton’s retelling of the Fall narrative.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.