Summer Assignment
Part II
Paradise Lost chapters I-VII
A.P. Language Arts students are to have read I-VII of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and to have answered,
in paragraph or more, each of the following questions based on the reading. This assignment is due on the first day
of the new school year. The previously distributed information on class and writing standards gives instructions and
some examples on the expected format and quality of the answers. I have also given a sample question and answer
as a model directly preceding the questions that students are to address. The questions are in the order of the
reading. WHEN ANSWERING A QUESTIO, REFERENCE THE QUOTE BY SPECIFIC LINE(S) AND BOOK
NUMBER. BE SURE TO ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES/PARAGRAPHS. BE AWARE THAT THERE
ARE QUESITONS WHICH HAVE MORE THAN ONE LOGICALLY DEFENSIBLE ANSWER, SO ANSWER
IN A LOGICAL AND DEFENSIBLE MANNER, USING THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND RELEVANT CHOISE
OF TEXTUAL MATERIAL AND WRITTEN PRESENTATION.
It is recommended that the summer assignment involving the King James Bible be completed prior to this
Milton assignment,
Since the KJV is an extremely useful antecedent in following the language, style, and Biblical allusions in Paradise
Lost. Familiarity with Greek and Roman mythology would also be extremely helpful, as would some knowledge of
the conventions of the epic and epic poetry. It is also recommended that students either borrow or buy a good
annotated version of Milton’s works for the assignment. My personal reference is the 1991 edition of John Milton:
A Critical Edition of the Major Works, edited by Orgel and Goldberg, one of The Oxford Authors series put out by
the Oxford university Press. Unfortunately, the particular book has its annotations in the back, and I think students
might find such an organizational structure tedious and frustrating if they find themselves frequently having to
interrupt the narrative continuity of a selection to look up salient notes on a detail in the content. With this fact in
mind, I would recommend searching out a book wherein the appropriate annotations are in footnotes or side notes on
the page of material to which they refer.
SAMPLE QUESTION:
Locate the lines early in Book I of Paradise Lost where Milton clearly states has general purpose in writing
this epic. Quote (using line numbers) and paraphrase those lines. Explain their meaning coherently, demonstrating
cogently your comprehension of the material.
SAMPLE ANSWER:
Milton’s purpose in writing this epic is revealed in the first sentence of the introductory argument of Book
I: “This first book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, man’s disobedience, and the loss thereupon
Paradise…,”and the purpose is repeated in lines 1-26 of Book I, “Of man’s first disobedience…justify the ways of
God to men.” The first quote indicates that Book I “purposes” or introduces “the whole subject” of the epic, “Man’s
disobedience” of God’s commands and authority, and humanity’s subsequent “loss thereupon of Paradise,” ideas
that are repeated in the poem, “Of Man’s first disobedience…loss of Eden” (11.1-4). To paraphrase, Milton is
stating that it is his intention to explain, in Judeo-Christian religious terms, how and why humanity lost its original
pure and innocent nature. In addition, lines 5-26 show the author petitioning for divine guidance in accomplishing
his purpose, which he expands, through the words “justify the ways of God to men,” to explaining god’s plans and
actions to his audience.
PARADISE LOST
1.
QUOTE AND PARAPHRASE THE MEANING OF THE LINES IN BOOK 1 WHEREIN SATAN
EXPLAINS WHY GOD COULD NOT DESTROY HIM, AND WHY SATAN STILL RETAINS POWER
AS A SPIRITUAL BEING.
2.
QUOTE THE LINES IN BOOK 1 WHERE SATAN SAYS THAT THE WAY HE CHOOSES TO THINK
AND PERCEIVE THINGS DETERMINES WHETHER HE FEELS THAT HE IS IN A PLACE OF
PUNISHMENT OR REWARD.
3.
HOW DOES MILTON EXPLAIN THE EXISTENCE OF THE PAGAN AND/OR MYTHOLOGICAL
GODS IN BOOK 1? USE QUOTES TO JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS.
4.
PARADISE LOST CAN BE SEEN AS CASTING SATAN IN THE ROLE OF A TRAGIC HERO.
WHERE (QUOTE LINES) IN BOOK 1 IS HE DESCRIBED AS STILL RETAINING SOME OF THE
GLORY OF AN ARCHANGEL, AS IN BEING COURAGEOUS, STUBBORNLY PROUD,
VENGEFUL, CRUEL, YET SYMPATHETIC, AND EVEN SORRY FOR THE ANGELS THAT CHOSE
TO FOLLOW AND FALL WITH HIM? WHY WOULD MILTON CHOOSE TO PRESENT SATAN IN
THIS WAY?
5.
WHAT IS THE NAME OF SATAN’S PALACE IN HELL? WHY?
6.
PARAPHRASE MILTON’S DESCRIPTION OF MOLOCH IN LL 41 – 50 AND 84-98, BOOK 11,
ESPECIALLY WHY HE FEARS NOTHING.
7.
WHICH OF THE CHARACTERS IN PARADISE LOST ASSERTS THAT GOD”…FIRST AND LAST
WILL REIGN SOLE KING…OVER HELL EXTEND HIS EMPIRE?” WHY/HOW IS THAT
ASSERTION SIGNIFICANT (IN TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND/OR
MOTIVATION OF THE DEMONS REGARDING THEIR PRESENCE (AND FATE/PURPOSE) IN
HELL?
8.
NAME THE FOUR RIVERS OF HELL AND THE NEGATIVE HUMAN QUALITIES WITH WHICH
THEY ARE ASSOCIATED. WHAT WAS/WERE MILTON’S SOURCES FOR THE NAMES AND
CONCEPTS FOR THESE RIVERS?
9.
WHAT IS SATAN’S PURPOSE IN HIS INITIAL DEPARTURE FROM HELL?
10. WHO ARE THE TWO BEINGS THAT SATAN MEETS AT THE GATES OF HELL, AND WHAT ARE
THEIR LITERAL RELATIONSHIPS TO HIM AND THE ORIGIN(S) OF THOSE RELATIONSHIPS?
THE LITERAL RELATIONSHIPS EACH HAVE VERY SIGNIFICANT SYMPOLIC PURPOSES, AND
THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF THEOLOGICAL AND/OR DOCTRINAL MATERIAL REGARDING
THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF SIN, WHY PEOPLE SIN, AND WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF
SIN ARE, FROM HISTORICALLY CONVENTIONAL PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT.
EXPLAIN AS FULLY AS YOU CAN THE SYMBOLIC LESSONS OR MESSAGE ILLUSTRATED BY
THE LITERAL RELATIONSHIPS, WHICH MILTON NEATLY INTERLOCKS.
11. THROUGH WHOSE KINGDOM OR REALM DOES SATAN HAVE TRAVEL TO GET TO THE
NEWLY CREATED EARTH? WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE RULER AND
CONSORT OF THAT PLACE?
12. WHAT THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS ARE PRESENTED IN THE ARGUMENT OF BOOK III?
13. ACCORDING TO MILTON’S PRESENTATION OF GOD’S WORDS, IS MANKIND BOUND BY
PREDESTINATION? WHAT DOES HE SAY ABOUT WHETHER GOD DOES OR DOES NOT HAVE
FOREKNOWLEDGE?
14. WHAT DOES MILTON IDENTIFY AS”…THE ONLY EVIL THAT WALKS INVISIBLE, EXCEPT TO
GOD ALONE…”? WHY CAN NEITHER HUMAN NOR ANGEL SEE OR RECOGNIZE THIS EVIL
(UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE)?
15. WHO, AS A WITNESS TO GOD’S POWER, IS DESCRIBING CREATION IN BOOK III?
16. IN BOOK IV, MILTON SUGGESTS THAT SATAN COULD REDEEM HIMSELF AND BE FREED?
HOW? WILL SATAN DO WHAT IT TAKES TO BE SAVED? WHY/WHY NOT?
17. ACCORDING TO BOOK V, HOW (TWO DIFFERENT WAYS) WAS A WARNING SENT TO ADAM
AND EVE?
18. ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING BASED ON BOOK V. THEY SHOULD EACH BE
ANSWERED IN THE ORDER PRESENTED BELOW, IN SENTENCE FROM ONLY, WITH A LINE
REFERENCE TO BACK UP YOUR ANSWER (YOU DO NOT NEED TO QUOTE, BUT YOU DO
NEED THE CORRECT LINE NUMBERS AS PART OF THE CORRECT ANSWER:
a) DO ANGELS SLEEP?
b) OF WHOM WAS SATAN SO ENVIOUS THAT HE TURNED TRAITOR TO GOD?
c) HOW MANY (WHAT PROPORTION) OF THE ANGELS JOINED IN SATAN’S REBELLION
IN HEAVEN AGAINST GOD?
d) WAS GOD AWARE OF THE BEGINNING, AND GROWTH, AND PARTICIPANTS OF THE
REBEL SIDE BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY TOOK UP ARMS IN BATTLE AGAINST HIM?
e) IS GOD BEING CONSCIOUSLY AND HUMOROUSLY IRONIC/SARCASTIC IN LINES 719732?
19. WHO, ON THE THIRD DAY OF BATTLE, LET THE FAITHFUL ANGELS IN THEIR VICTORY
AGAINST THE REBEL ANGELS?
20. WHAT REBEL ANGEL DOES MILTON CREDIT WITH CONCEIVING OF THE MACHINES OF
WAR, SUCH AS GUNPOWER/
21. WHAT, IN GENERAL, IS MOST OF BOOK VII DEVOTED TO DESCRIBING, AND WHO
“PERFORMS” THAT THING IS BEING DESCRIBED?