Kent-Drury Study Questions for Milton's Paradise Lost

1. Milton's Paradise Lost is often characterized as the last epic written in English.  Why do you think it was the last?
2.  What epic conventions do you find in the work?  How do Milton's use of these conventions differ from Virgil's use of the same conventions in The Aeneid? How are they the same?
3. What echoes of The Iliad, The Aeneid, and The Divine Comedy do you find in Paradise Lost?   To what extent does recognizing these allusions affect the experience of reading Paradise Lost?
4. Find some epic similes as you read.  How do they work?  Why do you think Milton uses them rather than getting to the point?
5. If Paradise Lost is an epic, then who is the epic hero?  How do you know?
6. What sort of a character is Satan?  Adam?  Eve?  Christ?
7. Look at Milton's description of life in the Garden of Eden.  Would you like to live there?  Why or why not?
8. Look at Milton's descriptions of Adam and Eve.  To what extent do his descriptions of them fit Milton's time and culture?  How are they characterized?  Why?
9. Milton was a devout Puritan and an official in the revolutionary government that was displaced by the restoration of Charles II to the throne of England. Milton was imprisoned for his role in the Puritan government, but was released because other poets intervened on this behalf. Paradise Lost was published several years after the restoration. What role, if any, do you believe this had on the subject matter of Paradise Lost?