Milton?s Paradise Lost is a very rich and challenging epic. Write your paper on the topic of: Why write this epic?. John Milton knew from his early years that he needed to write an epic poem, and he debated various topics for years. When he did write his epic, it ended up being this one before us. But why write such a poem, on a biblical topic? Isn?t that presumptuous? Milton claims to aim to ?justify the ways of God to man,? but why is that necessary? Another way of thinking of this question is: How does the author understand his work as an epic poet? He lets us in on this at various points, most notably in the invocations: three times, at the beginning of books one, three, and seven, the narrator invokes his muse, and a fourth time, at the beginning of nine, he refers to her. These passages heighten the reader?s consciousness of the author?s task and his relation to his subject matter, and are natural places to look for help in answering this question attentively.
You are also required to incorporate one ?block quote,? which is a quotation of at least four continuous lines from Milton?s text that you intend to explicate carefully.
1. Your text should be double-spaced, without extra space between paragraphs.
2. The paragraphs should be ?aligned left,? with a ?ragged? right margin, rather
than ?justified.?
3. The font should have a size of twelve points, and should be Times New Roman
or something very like it.
4. The first line of each paragraph should be indented half an inch (not more).
5. At the top right of each page you should have a header with your last name
and the page number (in the same font as the paper, please) ? title and course
information only appear on the first page
6. When quoting verse (in-line, not in the block), make sure to separate the lines
with a simple /.
Use Paradise Lost book by John Milton as source.
