Discussion Questions (See Part Two and Part Three and Part Four ): 864:
What
were the steps of the ideal poetic career in Milton's time?
In what ways, according to the editors,
does Milton resemble Spenser?
867:
How, according to the editors,
does Milton's Paradise Lost
"radically reconceiv[e] the epic genre and epic heroism"
(867)?
Paradise
Lost
894-95:
According
to the editors, how are the conventions of epic poetry
employed in Paradise Lost?
Explain.
Book One:
896:
Summarize
the Argument.
897:
What
literary technique is being employed in the first six lines?
902:
Explain:
"The mind is its own place, and in itself/Can make a Heav'n
of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n" (1.254-55).
Explain: "Better to reign in
Hell than serve in Heav'n" (1.263).
911:
Explain Satan's speech to his
troops in 1.622-62.
914:
What do the fallen angels do
at the end of the Book?
Other Discussion Questions:
864:
Explain: "No other major
English poet has been so deeply involved in the great
questions and political crises of his times" (864).
865:
Why, at Cambridge, did Milton
veer away from a career in the Church of England?
Explain the significance of
"L'Allegro" and "Il Penserosa."
Explain the significance of
"Lycidas."
866:
Explain Milton's view on
marriage and divorce.
Paradise Lost
894:
Explain: "The great themes of
Paradise Lost are
intimately linked to the political questions at stake in the
English Revolution and the Restoration" (894).
895:
Explain: Adam and Eve's "task
is to prune what is unruly in their own natures as they prune
the vegetation in their garden, for both have the capacity to
grow wild" (895).
Explain the politics behind
Milton's use of rhyme.
896:
What is the purpose of the
Argument? (See fn 1)
Book One:
897:
Explain lines 1.24-26.
How is Satan being
characterized in lines 1.55-58?
Describe the situation of the
fallen angels in lines 1.59-74.
898:
Explain the meaning of
Beëlzebub's and Satan's names.
899:
Why won't Satan repent?
899-900:
Explain Beëlzebub's response
to Satan.
901:
What literary technique is
being employed in 1.196-210?
903-4:
Explain Satan's speech to his
troops (1.315-30).
904:
What is the significance of
the reference to Satan as Sultan (1.348)?
905:
What epic convention
commences at 1.376?
908-9:
Explain lines 1.527-30.
912:
Who is Mammon?
913:
Who is Mulciber?
What is Pandemonium?
Part Two
What has occurred in Books Two and Three?
Book
Four:
951:
Explain lines 4.58-61. Is Satan remorseful about his
rebellion? Explain.
Explain: "Which way I fly is
Hell; myself am Hell" (4.75).
952:
Explain: "Evil be thou my good"
(4.110).
954:
What literary technique is
being employed in 4.183-92? Explain.
958:
Explain Satan's reaction (the
"tyrant's plea" later referred to in 4.394) to the Edenic
scene he encounters.
How does Satan justify his
planned mistreatment of Adam and Eve (4.370-92)?
959-60:
Explain Eve's recollection of the circumstances
surrounding her first encounter with Adam (4.449ff).
960:
Explain: "[H]e in delight/Both of her beauty and
submissive charms/Smiled with superior love" (4.497-99).
965:
Explain the comparison of Eve with Pandora (4.713ff).
Other Discussion
Questions:
950:
Explain lines 4.23-26.
951:
Explain lines 4.35-41.
952:
Explain lines 4.79-86. Is Satan penitent? Explain.
954:
Explain lines 4.201-204.
955-56:
Explain the use of pagan allusions in 4.265-79.
956-57:
Explain the description of Adam and Eve in 4.295-311.
959:
Explain Adam's speech to Eve regarding obedience
(4.427-39).
961:
What is the "fair foundation laid whereon to
build/Their ruin" (4.521-22)?
962:
Why does Uriel come down to speak to Gabriel
(4.561ff)?
963:
Who/What is Hesperus (4.605)?
Explain lines 4.637-38.
965:
Explain Eve and Adam's bedtime prayer (4.724-35 and
fn 5).
966:
Explain lines 4.748-49.
Explain the reference to love's "golden shafts"
(4.763).
Part Three
Discussion Questions:
What has occurred
in Books Five to Eight?
Book Nine:
984:
Explain lines 9.1-11: What change does Milton
announce?
986:
How is Satan able to re-enter Paradise?
Why does Satan choose the serpent as a "fit
vessel" (9.89)?
987:
What is the "hateful
siege/Of contraries" (9.121-22)?
991:
Explain: "But God left free the will, for what
obeys/Reason, is free, and reason he made right" (9.351-52).
995-96:
In what ways is Satan's speech to Eve (9.532-48)
like a Petrarchan poem? Explain.
1005:
How do Adam and Eve behave after Adam eats
(9.1008ff)? Why? How does this behavior compare to their
behavior at the end of Book Four?
1007:
Why do they decide
to wear fig leaves?
1008:
Explain Adam and
Eve's arguments in favor of the other's guilt (9.1134ff).
Other Discussion Questions:
984:
To what classic
literary texts does Milton allude in lines 9.14-19?
Explain the actions
of Milton's muse in 9.20-24.
986:
Explain the analogy
Milton makes involving the Earth and God (9.99-113).
987:
Explain "For only in
destroying I find ease/To my relentless thoughts"
(9.129-30).
Why, according to
Satan, has God made humans (9.143-57)?
988:
Explain the irony of
Satan's "imbruting" himself in a snake (9.163 and fn 5).
988-89:
Explain Eve's
suggestion to Adam regarding their labor (9.205ff).
989:
Explain Adam's
response, especially lines 9.232-34 and 9.242-43.
What fears does Adam
have regarding their separate labors (9.251ff)?
991:
Explain: "And what
is faith, love, virtue unassayed/Alone, without exterior
help sustained?" (9.335-36).
993-94:
What literary
technique is employed in 9.445-57?
Explain lines
9.473-79.
Why does Satan view
Eve as a better target than Adam (9.481-93)?
996:
Why is Eve
suspicious of the Serpent (9.553ff)?
How does he respond
to her doubts (9.568ff)?
997:
Explain 9.631-32.
Explain: "Our reason
is our law" (9.654).
Explain Satan's
response to Eve's reluctance to eat the fruit (9.679ff).
999:
Explain: "If what is
evil/Be real, why not known, since easier shunned?"
(9.698-99).
Explain Satan's
discussion of God's reason for denying humans knowledge
(9.703ff).
1000:
Explain: "For good
unknown, sure is not had, or had,/And yet unknown, is as
not had at all"(9.756-57).
1000-1:
Explain
Earth's response to Eve's eating of the fruit (9.782ff).
1001:
Why might Eve not
share the fruit with Adam? Why does she decide to do so
(9.816ff)?
1002:
Explain her first
speech to Adam (9.856ff).
1003:
Explain Adam's
response (9.888ff).
How does Adam
believe God will react to their misdeed? Why (9.926ff)?
1006:
How has their view
of the world changed after they awaken from their sleep?
Why (9.1051ff)?
1008:
Explain: 9.1127-37.
Part Four
Discussion Questions:
Book Ten:
1009:
What has occurred immediately
before the opening of the excerpt?
1010:
Why
does Satan tell his minions that they can now leave
Pandemonium (10.460ff)?
1011:
Why do
all his followers hiss at him (10.507ff)?
1012:
Explain the significance of
the grove of apple trees (10.548ff).
1013:
How has
the Earth changed after Humanity's Fall?
1014:
Explain:
"Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay/To mold me man, did
I solicit thee/From darkness to promote me?" (10.743-45).
1017:
Explain Adam's diatribe
against Eve (10.867-908).
1021-22:
Explain the end of Book Ten.
Book Twelve:
1023:
What Comforter does Michael tell Adam God will send
(12.485-92)?
1026:
Explain the final four lines of
the poem (12.646-49).
Other Discussion Questions: 1010:
What literary technique is
employed in 10.431-37? Explain.
1011:
Does the Earth really now
belong to Satan and his crew? Explain.
Explain: "A world who would
not purchase with a bruise/Or much more grievous pain?"
(10.500-1).
1014:
What problems does Adam have
with his punishment (10.729ff, and see also 10.794ff)?
1018:
Explain Eve's response,
especially 10.927-36.
How does her speech compare
with Adam's in 10.832-34 and 10. 952-57? Explain.
1019:
What course of action does
Eve propose to Adam (10.979ff)?
1020:
How does Adam respond to this
proposal (10.1013ff)?
Book Eleven:
1022:
Summarize the events of this
Book.
Book Twelve:
1023:
What wolves does Michael describe in 12.508-24?
1024:
What lessons does Adam draw from Michael's speech
(10.561ff)?
1026:
Explain: "[T]hou to me/Art all things under heav'n,
all places thou" (12.617-18).
