Paradis Lost Essay, Research Paper

Paradise Lost Outline

Thesis: In Paradise Lost, Milton creates a Hell that is easily imagined through his use of concrete images, powerful diction, and serious tone.

I. Paradise Lost is a great epic

A. “John Milton?.a dedicated figure, in the seventeenth-century English literature” (Diaches 390).

B. Paradise Lost is considered to be “a triumph beyond which, in its own kind, the force of English poetry could no farther go” (Hopkins 153).

C. In Paradise Lost, Milton creates a Hell that is easily imagined through his use of concrete images, powerful diction, and serious tone.

II. Concrete images are used by Milton to create a Hell that is easily imagined.

A. “With ? eyes / That sparkling blazed”(Milton 283 193-4)

B. Imagery is used to describe Satan?s “scaly rind” (Milton 283 206) .

C. “With hideous ruin and combustion, down / To bottomless perdition, there to dwell / In adamantine chains and penal fire” (Milton280 46-8).

III. Powerful diction is used and creates a image of Hell in Paradise Lost.

A. “With floods and whirling winds of tempest fire” (Milton 280 77).

B. ” Where peace and rest can never dwell” (Milton 280 66-7).

C. “Who durst defy the Omnipotent” (Milton 280 49).

IV. Tone is also a element that is used in Paradise Lost.

A. “To whom the Archenemy, / And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words / Breaking the horrid silence, thus began” (Milton 280 81-3).

B. “And justify the ways of God to men” (Milton 278 26).

C. “Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured” (Milton 283 220).

V. The epic, Paradise Lost, is known for being a Christian epic.

A. ” his long narrative and dramatic poems all deal with disputes” (Wain 1657).

B. Milton creates a image of Hell through literary devices.

C. In Paradise Lost, Milton creates a Hell that is easily imagined through his use of concrete images, powerful diction, and serious tone.

Paradise Lost

Critical Analysis

Ed Truelove

March 25, 1999

London

John Milton?s Paradise Lost is a narrative epic that was written in the seventeenth century. John Milton was known as a “dedicated figure in? English Literature” (Diaches 390). Paradise Lost is considered to be “a triumph beyond which, in its own kind, the force of English poetry could no farther go (Hopkins 153). In Paradise Lost, Milton creates a Hell that is easily imagined through his use of concrete images, powerful diction, and serious tone.

The literary device of imagery is used to create concrete images. Milton creates an image of Satan that can be seen in the minds of his readers. This can be shown a number of times throughout the epic. “With?eyes / That sparkled and blazed” and his “scaly rind” help describe and create an image of Satan (Milton 283 193-4, 283 206). He also creates a mental picture of Hell for the readers. This can be shown when God casts Satan “With hideous ruin and combustion, down / To bottomless perdition, there to dwell / In adamantine chains and penal fire” out of Heaven (Milton 280 46-8). There are many literary devices that can be used to devise an image of Hell.

Milton also uses powerful diction to help create an image of Hell and Satan in Paradise Lost. Hell is described as a place “with floods and whirling winds of tempest fire” and “Where peace and rest can never dwell” (Milton 280 77, 280 66-7). Milton wants the reader to know that Hell is a evil and unhappy place to be. Satan is then referred to as the one “Who durst defy the Omnipotent ” (Milton 280 49). Diction is used by Milton to convey a particular meaning and express what he wants the reader to think.

Milton also uses a serious tone to convey his meaning of Hell and Satan to his audience. Tone is writers attitude toward their work. “To whom the Archenemy, / And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words / Breaking horrid silence, thus began” and as well as “Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured” is what Milton writes to let the reader know that the tone has turned very serious.

Paradise Lost is known for being a Christian epic and Milton is known for “his long narrative and dramatic poems all deal with disputes” (Wain 1657). In Paradise Lost, Milton creates a Hell that is easily imagined through his use of concrete images, powerful diction, and serious tone.

Works Cited

Diaches, David. A Critical History of English Literature. New York: The

Ronald Press Company. 1970. 390.

Hopkins, Kennith .English Poetry:A Short Story. Philadelphia: J.B.

Lippincott Company. 1962.153.

Wain, John.The Critical Perspective. New York: Chelsea House Publishers:

1986. 1657.

Milton, John. English Literature with World Masterpieces. New York:

Glencoe.1989.278.