Lectures on Tap - John Milton: A Literary Analysis of Love & Compatibility

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "John Milton: A Literary Analysis of Love & Compatibility"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Amy Carleton

Today we talk endlessly about relationship “gaps”: the wealth gap, ambition gap, fitness gap, and yes, even the swag gap. Earlier this month, the internet lost its collective mind when a woman on Threads revealed that a man she was dating broke up with her after finding out she had a library card—proof that intellectual compatibility (or the lack of it) is still a live wire.

But this conversation is far from new.

In 1643, British writer John Milton argued that the most destructive mismatch in a relationship was what he called “unfitness of mind.” In his treatise The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton insists that love without intellectual companionship leads to isolation, resentment, and harm. Blending relationship discourse, literary history, and a subtle Taylor Swift wink, this talk explores why intellectual incompatibility has always mattered—and why a 17th-century poet might still be one of our best guides to modern relationship success.

Dr. Amy Carleton teaches in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing program at MIT and writes widely on culture, art, and the internet.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Felecia For The Win