LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Paradise Lost, Books I-III

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. How do the first 26 lines of Paradise Lost compare to the opening(s) of the Odyssey, the Aeneid, the Metamorphoses, and/or the Inferno?  How do the subject matter, images, and themes of Milton’s poem compare to the subject matter, images, and themes of previous works we’ve read in the epic tradition?  Most of the differences are pretty clear.  What are the similarities?
2. What does Milton do to the story of the creation and fall of human beings that appears in Genesis?  Obviously, he adds a lot to it.  What kinds of things does he add?  Why might he have added those things?  What is he trying to tell us about his values and his understanding of the world?
3. How does Milton’s underworld compare to Homer’s, Virgil’s, or Dante’s?  What character from the other works we’ve read this semester does Milton’s Satan remind you of most?  Why would Milton want Satan to be like that character?  What are Satan’s values?  Why are those values bad?
4. In Book III of Paradise Lost, we get a glimpse of a heavenly council at work.  How does Milton’s portrayal of heaven and heavenly beings compare to the portrayal of the gods/heavenly beings in Book I of the Odyssey, Book I of the Aeneid, Book I of the Metamorphoses, and/or Canto II of the Inferno?  How does Milton’s view of the world and the divine differ from one (or more) of the earlier writers we’ve read in class?  How is it similar?