Milton, Paradise Lost
Milton Bio and Background
Information
• Religion
• Blindness
Milton’s writings were heavily influenced by the political
and religious climate of his day
• Charles the First—1625
• Civil War: Parliamentarians (Roundheads)
vs. Royalists (Cavaliers)
• Oliver Cromwell
• Charles beheaded
• Milton’s new job
• Restoration, King Charles II
Paradise Lost: The Poem
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Composed from 1658-1664
Written in blank verse
Epic
Two parallel falls
Protagonist: Satan
Paradise Lost: Themes
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Justice
Freedom
Obedience
Knowledge and Ignorance
Choices and Consequences
The Human Condition
Engraving, by William Faithmore, of Milton in 1670, a few years after he
completed Paradise Lost; it was published as the frontispiece to his History
of Britain (1670).
Study Questions: The Verse
1.
2.
3.
What is blank verse?
Why does Milton state as his reason for choosing to
write in blank verse?
What other poets does Milton invoke when citing his
reasons for writing in blank verse? What is the effect of
this invocation?
“The measure is English heroic verse without rhyme, as that of
Homer in Greek and of Virgil in Latin; rhyme being no necessary
adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in longer works
especially, but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off
wretched matter and lame meter; graced indeed since by the use
of some famous modern poets, carried away by custom, but much
to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many
things otherwise, and for the most part worse than else they
would have expressed them.”
Study Questions: Book 1 (lines 1-270)
4. What, according to Milton, is Paradise
Lost primarily about?
5. Believe it or not, the first 10 lines of the
poem constitute a single thought.
Paraphrase that thought below, in regular
English, using conventional word order
(subject, verb, object).
6. Who is the muse that Milton invokes in
line 6?
7. What does the poet boast he will do in
line 16?
8. What, in lines 24-6, does the poet
propose to do in his poem?
9. Why has Satan been cast out of
Heaven?
10. Who is Beelzebub?
11. What does Beelzebub say would be “an
ignominy and shame beneath this
downfall”?
12. Why do Satan and Beelzebub decide not
to wage another war against God?
13. What do the devils eventually decide to
do?
Identify the Quotation:
Fall'n Cherub, to be weak is miserable
Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist.
Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse…
Identify the Quotation:
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.
Study Questions: Book I (lines 271-521)
14. How does Milton characterize Satan and
his devils in these lines? How does this
affect our reading of this part of the
poem? (Hint: Look closely at his word
choice. What nouns does he use to
describe them?)
Important Moments: Book I (lines 271-521)
337: “Yet to their general’s voice they soon obeyed
Innumerable.”
356: “Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band
The Heads and Leaders thither haste where stood
Their great Commander…
The long catalogue on lines 381-521.
Book I overview
• We can break Book I down into the following
sections:
– Invocation and introduction of poem's theme
– An account of Satan's revolt and expulsion from
Heaven
– Dialogue between Satan and Beelzebub
– The other devils' rallying around Satan - the demonic
host listed
– Satan's speech to the legions (about the creation of
man)
– The building of Pandemonium (inspired by Mammon)
Study Questions: Book I (lines 522-798)
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Look at lines 615-621: Satan tries to
speak, but can’t—why not?
– How does this complicate our image of Satan?
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636-642: What does Satan accuse God of
here?
– How does this complicate our image of God?
15. What rumor does Satan say he heard in
Heaven (lines 650-654)?
• 690: “Let none admire / That riches grow in
Hell; that soil may best / Deserve the
precious bane.”
Study Questions: Book I (lines 522-798)
16. Where does Satan say they should go?
655: “Thither, if perhaps but to pry, shall be
perhaps / Our first eruption, thither or
elsewhere…”
17. What does Satan say they should do?
661: “War then, war / Open or understood must
be resolved.”
18. What do the devils build at the end of Book I?
Books II - VIII
• [summarize what happens in the part they
don’t read]
Book IX
• One thing you’ll have to do for the
Paradise Lost test is parse some lines of
Milton’s.
– Parse: to analyze (a sentence) in terms of
grammatical constituents, identifying the parts
of speech, syntactic relations, etc.
• lines 412-416:
For now, and since first break of dawn the Fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purposed prey.
Study Questions: Book IX (lines 412-612)
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421-422: “He sought them both, but wished his hap
might find / Eve separate…”
19. What does Milton mean when he metaphorically
calls Eve the “fairest unsupported flower, / From her
best prop so far”? What “storm is nigh”? (lines 433434)
20. What is Satan’s initial reaction to the sight of
beautiful Eve? (463-472) (also continue reading to
479)
21. Look closely at lines 532-549. How does Satan
tempt Eve? What strategies does he use?
22. What is Eve’s reaction to the serpent’s
first words? (lines 553-566)
23. What is the serpent’s response to her
reaction? (568-612)
24. What are some of the words Satan uses
to address Eve? Why might he choose
these particular words?
• Now get out a clean sheet of notebook
paper. In the remaining class time, I want
you to parse lines 594-597:
Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung
Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
I spared not, for such pleasure till this hour
At feed or fountain I had never found.
Study Questions: Book IX (lines 613-841)
[Look at lines 651-654.]
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What does Eve tell Satan in lines 659663? Why might this be important?
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What does the serpent say to Eve in
order to convince her that her fears
about eating the forbidden fruit are
unfounded? [684-732]
27. What strategies does Satan use to tempt Eve
here? [735-738] [758-772]
28. What happens to the Earth in lines 780-784,
when Eve eats the forbidden fruit?
29. After she has eaten the fruit, what is Eve’s
state compared to? [791-794]
[804-6; 824-825; 830-833]
Turn in your study questions!
I want you to practice parsing: rewrite lines 735-738 on
your own paper, and in your own words. Be sure to
include every meaningful aspect of the sentence and to
not change the meaning of the sentence at all.
Remember to find the subject and the verb first;
then work from there to put together the rest of the
sentence.
Fixed on the fruit she gazed, which to behold
Might tempt alone; and in her ears the sound
Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned
With reason, to her seeming, and with truth.
(You’ll want to read the lines as they are in your book,
since there’s a helpful textual note there.)
Important Terms
• Blank verse, epic, English Civil War, the
characters in Paradise Lost,
pandemonium
General Questions
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The poem as an epic—how does it fit the
characteristics of an epic? How does it not?
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If PL is an epic, then Satan is an epic hero. Analyze
this statement. Is Milton sympathetic to Satan? Why
might this be? What’s the effect of his characterization
of Satan?
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What do you think is the true sin in Paradise Lost?
Why? What details in the epic support that view?
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Is Milton’s characterization of Eve sexist at all? Does
she represent universal human frailties or failings
characteristic of women specifically?