-What kind of writer was he? Explain.

John Milton was born the 9th of December of 1608 and he died in the 18th of November of 1674.  He was a prestigious writer, and he wrote Paradise in Heaven, a well known poem that I will analyse below. He wrote metaphysical poems about religion and politics. In his writings he reflected deep personal convictions.

 

-He wrote Paradise Lost. What is it about?

Paradise lost is a very notable epic poem. This poem explains how Satan tempted Adam and Eve and how they were expulsed from the Garden of Eden. To express this, he uses a more complex language and many metaphors that lead to other detours from the main theme.

 

-Now, read the poem and say what you understand from it using your own words. (work on vocabulary)

Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray

Had in her sober livery all things clad;

Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,

They to their grassy couch, these to their nests

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale.

She all night longer her amorous descant sung:

Silence was now pleased. Now glowed the firmament

With living Saphirs; Hesperus, that led

The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon,

Rising in clouded majesty, at length

Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw;

When Adam thus to Eve: “Fair consort, the hour

Of night, and all things now retired to rest

Mind us of like repose; since God hath set

Labour and rest, as day and night, to men

Successive, and the timely dew of sleep,

Now falling with soft slumberous weight, inclines

Our eye-lids. Other creatures all day long

Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;

Man hath his daily work of body or mind

Appointed, which declares his dignity,

And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;

While other animals unactive range,

And of their doings God takes no account.

Tomorrow, ere fresh morning streak the east

With first approach of light, we must be risen,

And at our pleasant labour, to reform

Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,

Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,

That mock our scant manuring, and require

More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth.

Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,

That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,

Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease.

Glossary

 

sober livery – plain clothes;

clad – dressed up in;

slunk – crept quietly;

descant – melody sung above another song;

firmament – heaven;

Saphirs – sapphires;

Hesperus – another name for Venus (the planet);

repose – a state of rest.

 

This extract shows the expel of Adam and Eve from paradise and parallel, it shows the relation between Satan and God.

The author shows how divine the night and the day is. He shows the night as something peaceful and calm. He also reflects what people thought of work in his phase of history. He says that the day needs to be availed to work, because God takes that into account.

The detour that I previously talked about is this way of enjoying and appreciating life, that it is complemented with the paradise that the author talks about.

The sky represents the “heaven” that the author talks about. It represents the paradise that Adam and Eve lost, and it also shows the reward that workers had after working throughout their life.

 

“Man hath his daily work of body or mind

Appointed, which declares his dignity,”

This picture shows the other peaceful and silent moment in our lives: sleep. He reflects sleep as it was paradise, a paradise that lasts some hours per day.

“Silence was now pleased”