AP English

 Milton lived from He had 3 daughters and one son with his first wife. His wife died, and his one year old son died one month later. His second wife died after two years of marriage. His third wife outlived him.  During the 1660s, at which time he was completely blind, Milton wrote and published Paradise Lost (first 10 books) by the age of 59. The final two were published in  King James 1, First King of United Kingdom

 Milton also had an influential role in the English Civil War, and was even arrested and jailed for his published views, but the efforts of the new ideologists failed to institute a new form of government.  By the time Milton wrote Paradise Lost, he was plagued by political (interregnum ) and religious cause failures (promoted Protestantism over Catholicism), illness and financial devastation. King Charles II, First King following interregnum

 Milton believed that freedom of choice is central to mankind’s nature, and Milton will “justify the ways of God to Man” in Paradise Lost by defending God’s decision to allow mankind to fall. God gave Adam reason God gave Adam freedom to choose REASON IS BUT CHOOSING!

 Milton believes God gave Man free will, since without free will, humans would be puppets instead of worthy worshippers of God.  Without free will, people would be obeying God as automatons  Milton places high value on human responsibility  Milton is of the Protestant faith and supports the idea of “the priesthood of the individual believer” – meaning that each man is capable of the direct relationship with God without a priest to intervene, particularly in prayer and biblical knowledge

1) What is the main idea of the selection? 2) In what ways does the author support the main idea? 3) What words are you unfamiliar with? What do you think they mean from their use in context? Look them up. You will need an unabridged dictionary containing antiquated words. 4) How are words used denotatively (multiple meanings)? 5) Find and label all examples of literary/language elements. 6) Explain how the literary or poetic devices or elements contribute to or reinforce the passage’s meaning. 7) Summarize the selection in no more than five sentences. 8) What is the tone of the passage? What words or phrases help convey this tone? 9) What is the intended and probable effect of the passage?

 Satan and his legion decide to check out the rumor that God is making a planet and a new creature. Their aim is to disrupt God’s plans. They ditched the idea to try a second overthrow against Heaven. Satan volunteers to spy on the new creation and report back.

 From Heaven, God sees Satan flying toward His newly created world and points him out to His Son. God foretells Satan’s perversion of mankind but says He created mankind to be free and able to choose. The Son praises God for His gracious purpose. But God points out that divine justice must be satisfied. The Son freely offers Himself as a ransom for mankind. God accepts. The Angels adore and worship the Son. Meanwhile, Satan disguises himself as a lowly Angel and is able to spy on the new creation.

 Satan gains entrance to Paradise, wonders at its beauty and then eavesdrops on Adam and Eve. They are talking about God’s command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil under penalty of death. Satan now plots how to cause them to transgress. Satan is caught whispering to Eve while she slept and is brought before the Angel Gabriel, who banishes Satan from the garden.

 Eve tells Adam of her troublesome dream, and he comforts her. God sends the angel Raphael to warn them about Satan and tell them of Satan’s fall.

 Raphael continues the battle story to the point where on the 3 rd day, the Son, in a flaming chariot drives the rebels into hell.

 Raphael now tells the story of the six days of creation.

 Adam then tells Raphael what he remembers of his own creation, his first impression of the world and its creatures, the garden, meeting Eve the first, and their marriage. Raphael reiterates his warnings about Satan and departs.

 The Guardian Angels return to heaven, wondering why they could not prevent Satan from entering. God assured them it could not have been prevented. God then sends Jesus to Earth to judge Adam and Eve’s transgression. Meanwhile, Satan returns to hell, and the demons celebrate their success. Sin and Death (two demonic angels) lead the creation a broad highway to hell to make the trip to and from hell easier. God then foretells the victory of Jesus over Sin and Death and the renewing of creation. After Eve suggests suicide to get out of the punishment on her offspring, Adam advises Eve to seek peace with God through repentance and supplication.

 Jesus presents the prayers of the repentant Adam and Eve to God, and God accepts their prayers. However, He sends the angel Michael to remove them from Paradise. Michael then shows Adam a vision of what shall happen on Earth up to the point of the Flood.

 Michael then shows Adam what happens after the Flood, focusing on Abraham, Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension, and then the state of the Church until the Second Coming of Christ. These revelations comfort Adam. Eve meanwhile has been resting and has finally reached a state of quietness of mind and submission. Michael leads Adam & Eve out of Paradise.