A Study Guide for John Milton's Paradise Lost

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for John Milton's "Paradise Lost," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Epics for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Epics for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781535830577

Book preview

Epics for Students, Second Edition, Volume 2

Project Editor: Sara Constantakis

Rights Acquisition and Management: Margaret Chamberlain-Gaston, Savannah Gignac, Tracie Richardson, Jhanay Williams

Composition: Evi Abou-El-Seoud

Manufacturing: Drew Kalasky

Imaging: John Watkins

Product Design: Pamela A. E. Galbreath, Jennifer Wahi

Content Conversion: Katrina Coach

Product Manager: Meggin Condino

© 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all copyright notices, the acknowledgments constitute an extension of the copyright notice.

For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Gale Customer Support, 1-800-877-4253.

For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions.

Further permissions questions can be emailed to [e-mail]

While every effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information presented in this publication, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained herein. Gale accepts no payment for listing; and inclusion in the publication of any organization, agency, institution, publication, service, or individual does not imply endorsement of the editors or publisher. Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions.

Gale

27500 Drake Rd.

Farmington Hills, MI, 48331-3535

ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-7621-6 (set)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-7622-3 (vol. 1)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-7623-0 (vol. 2)

ISBN-10: 1-4144-7621-3 (set)

ISBN-10: 1-4144-7622-1 (vol. 1)

ISBN-10: 1-4144-7623-X (vol. 2)

This title is also available as an e-book.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-7624-7

ISBN-10: 1-4144-7624-8

Contact your Gale, a part of Cengage Learning sales representative for ordering information.

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 13 12 11 10

Paradise Lost

John Milton

1667

Introduction

Paradise Lost, one of the greatest poems in the English language, was first published in 1667. John Milton had long cherished the ambition to write the consummate English epic, to do for the English language what Homer and Virgil had done for Greek and Latin, and what Dante had done for Italian. Milton had originally planned to base his epic on the Arthurian legends, the foundational myths for English nationalism, but later turned his attention to more universal questions. He decided to focus on the foundational myth of humanity itself, the Genesis account of creation and the Fall of Man. It was an ambitious project, for Milton was determined to attempt things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme, and his success is indicated by the esteem in which the poem continues to be held.

Milton's epic poem received mixed reactions in the seventeenth century, and, over the years, has continued to arouse both praise and criticism. Yet, its admirers have always been more numerous that its detractors. The poem has influenced many authors and artists from John Dryden to William Blake, Mary Shelley to Philip K. Dick, C. S. Lew is to Gene Roddenberry. Aside from the sheer beauty of its language and the power of its characterization, the subject matter of the poem has continued to absorb readers of every generation. Milton does not hesitate to ask the most difficult of questions: If the world was created by a good, just, and loving God, why is there little evidence of goodness and justice in the world? What does it mean for humankind to be created in the image of that God, and how does