Comprehensive Study Guide for Milton's Paradise Lost and Exam Preparation

Final Midterm Preparation and Essay Question Overview

• The Essay Question Focus: The central essay question for the final midterm involves analyzing the episodes of Armida (from Tasso) and Acrasia (from Spenser). Students should be prepared to discuss these figures as the "magical woman in the garden."
• Intertextual Comparisons: The analysis must draw on original sources, specifically:
  • Circe: From Homer's Odyssey, identified as the original prototype for the magical woman in a garden.
  • Virgil's Women: References to figures from Virgil's works.
  • Eve and Meredith: Candidates for comparison regarding feminine representations.
• Analytical Requirements: Students must convey the authors' intent in these episodes using specific details as evidence. The essay requires comparing and contrasting the three main authors (Tasso, Spenser, and Milton) and discussing how they draw upon the classical foundations of Homer and Virgil.
• The Conclusion Option: Students have the option—though it is not required—to bring Milton’s Eve into their conclusion to put their earlier arguments regarding the earlier epics into perspective.
• Preparation Advice: It is recommended to write an outline, review specific details, and reread the three main episodes. Rereading is emphasized as these episodes may appear in other parts of the test. Students cannot bring notes or exact quotations but should memorize significant details.

Grading Structure and Optional Final Essay Details

• Grading Chunks: The total grade is composed of $5 \times 20\%$ chunks:
  • Midterm 1: $20\%$
  • Midterm 2: $20\%$
  • Midterm 3 (Final Midterm): $20\%$
  • Top 10 Quizzes: $20\%$
  • Class Participation/REOs Prize Quiz: Combined for $20\%$
• The Optional Final Essay: This is a non-mandatory assignment that can replace the lowest of the 20% grade chunks.
  • Submission Policy: There are no extensions permitted for this optional assignment.
  • Deadline: Friday, May 22, at $3\,PM$ sharp.
  • Topic: The essay involves the character Britomart and the House of Busirane episode. It requires reading short critical essays regarding the House of Busirane.
  • Midterm Insurance: Technically, a student could complete this essay and opt out of the final midterm if their other grades are sufficient, though taking the midterm is recommended for the learning experience.
• The "Joanne Method": A recommended test-taking strategy where the student completes the final essay question of the midterm first.

Introduction to Paradise Lost: Verse, Style, and the Critique of Rhyme

• The Measure of the Poem: Milton writes in English heroic verse without rhyme. He compares this to the measures used by Homer in Greek and Virgil in Latin.
• The Critique of Rhyme: Milton is highly critical of rhyme in longer works, describing it as:
  • An "invention of a barbarous age."
  • A device used to "set off wretched matter and lame meter."
  • A "vexation, hindrance, and constraint" that forces poets to express things worse than they otherwise would.
• Historical Precedents: Milton notes that famous Italian and Spanish poets have rejected rhyme, as did Shakespeare in English tragedies.
• Definition of Musical Delight: True musical delight does not consist of the "jingling sound of like endings" (rhyme), but of:
  1. Apt numbers: Balanced metric feet.
  2. Fit quantity of syllables.
  3. Sense variously drawn out from one verse into another: This refers to enjambment, where the thought continues past the line break.
• Symbolism of Verse: Milton associates the rejection of rhyme with "ancient liberty recovered" to the heroic poem from the "troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming."

The Opening of Paradise Lost: Invocation and Intertextuality

• Mnemonic/Cheat Sheet: The professor suggests the first line and a half can be sung to the tune of The Flintstones:
  • $\text{Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree...}$
• The Subject Matter: The poem addresses the fall of humanity, the loss of Eden, and the "one greater man" (Jesus Christ) who restores humanity and regains the "blissful seat."
• Invoking the Muse: Milton invokes the "heavenly muse" (Urania/Holy Spirit) who inspired Moses (the shepherd who taught the chosen seed how the heavens and earth rose out of chaos).
• Intertextuality with Ariosto: Milton uses the line "things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." This is a literal translation of a line from the opening of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. Both poets claim to be doing something entirely new.
• The Internal Temple: Milton asserts that the Holy Spirit prefers the "upright heart and pure" over any physical temple; the human heart is the true temple of God.
• The Central Objective: Milton states his goal is to "assert eternal providence and justify the ways of God to men."
  • Providence: Defined as God's plan or the idea that God has "provided" a structured path for the universe.
  • Justify: This can mean providing scientific/logical proof of the plan's goodness or simply "adjusting" the plan in the minds of the audience so they understand God.

Historical and Political Context of Milton’s Life

• Chronology of Epics:
  • Homer: Lived roughly $3,000$ years ago ($7\text{-}8\text{th century BCE}$).
  • Virgil: Lived in the $1\text{st century BCE}$.
  • Milton: Lived during the $17\text{th century}$.
• The English Civil War: A conflict between the Monarchy (Cavaliers) and Parliament (Puritans/Roundheads).
  • The Execution: King Charles I was executed in $1649$.
  • The Interregnum: A democratic government ruled by Parliament under Oliver Cromwell lasted until $1660$.
• Milton’s Role: Milton was a staunch Puritan on the side of Parliament. He served as the Foreign Secretary because of his mastery of languages. He even wrote a treatise justifying regicide (the killing of the king).
• The Restoration: In $1660$, the monarchy was restored under Charles II. Milton was in danger of execution or imprisonment but was saved through the intercession of the poet Andrew Marvell.
• Composition Conditions: Milton wrote Paradise Lost while blind, old, and politically defeated. He dictated the poem to his daughters, viewing the process as divine inspiration.

Heroism in Paradise Lost: A Shift to Christian and Internal Virtue

• The Evolution of the Hero:
  • Homer: Heroism of wrath (Achilles) and cleverness (Odysseus).
  • Virgil: Heroism of duty (Aeneas).
  • Milton: Heroism of "patience and heroic martyrdom."
• Psychomachic: A Greek term for soul-battle. Milton argues that internal struggles against temptation are "more heroic" than physical wars involving shields and lances.
• Portrayal of Satan: Satan is depicted with the trappings of an ancient epic hero (travels, adventures, missions). Critics like William Blake and the Romantics argued Milton was "of the devil's party" because Satan is so charming and smart.
• The Reader’s Fall: One interpretation suggests Milton deliberately makes Satan attractive to trick the reader into "falling" for his rhetoric, much like Adam and Eve did.
• Satan vs. The Rebels: There is a paradox in Milton’s politics: he fought for Parliament against King Charles I, yet in the poem, Satan (the rebel) fights against God (the King). Milton resolves this by arguing that while earthly kings should be limited, God is the one authority that deserves total submission because His rules are ultimately just.

Book IX: The Argument for Separation and the Nature of the Garden

• The Garden Setting: Milton’s Eden requires labor (though not toilsome) and allows for sexual intimacy within marriage, which Milton praises as a "holy" thing.
• The Argument: Eve proposes they separate to work more efficiently, claiming they distract each other with smiles and conversation.
  • Eve’s Logic: If they cannot be apart because of fear, they are not truly free.
  • Adam’s Logic: He warns of the danger of the adversary (Satan). He argues that seeking out temptation to prove one's virtue is unwise.
• The Decision to Separate: Adam eventually allows Eve to go alone. He decides that to force her to stay would be "coercion," which would undermine their status as free beings.
• Satan’s Seduction: Satan enters the serpent, a creature traditionally harmless and vegetarian in Eden. Upon seeing Eve’s innocence, he is momentarily moved and stands "stupidly good" before returning to his malice.

The Temptation and Fall: Satan’s Arguments and the Aftermath

• Satan’s Arguments to Eve:
  • Attainment of Speech: He claims he gained reason and speech by eating the fruit.
  • Divine Envy: He questions if God is merely envious and wonders how knowledge could possibly hurt an omnipotent being.
  • The Test of Independence: One of his most clever arguments is that God might actually want them to break the rules to show they can "think outside the box" and exercise independent free will.
• The Act of Falling: Eve eats the fruit in an "evil hour."
  • Nature’s Reaction: Milton writes, "Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat."
  • A Rare Rhyme: Uniquely, Milton uses a rhyme at the moment of the fall to underscore the gravity and "badness" of the event.
• Adam’s Fall: Adam is "amazed" and realizes Eve is lost. He chooses to eat the fruit not because he is deceived, but through "vehemence of love," deciding he would rather perish with her than live without her.
• The Second Chance: Milton justifies God giving Adam and Eve a second chance (unlike Satan) because they were tempted by another and felt regret, whereas Satan tempted himself and remained unrepentant.