Help! - I'm to teach Milton's Paradise Lost as part of my pre-student teaching practium

[Steve Booton]

I could use some ideas on presenting The Fall of Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton. My instinct tells me that I may want to propose, "What is evil?" or "What is good?" as an essential question, however, words such as escape, rebel, trapped, loss, and rules keep coming to my mind. I am intrigued by Terrance Lendall paintings as well. I want these lessons to pop. My cooperating teacher is the head of the language arts department of this very large high school, thus, I want the kids to be engaged while comprehending and understanding the complex text. To boot-this will be a short three day unit. Each class is 52 minutes long. Thank you for taking the time to reply back.

[Joseph Scotese]

Steve,

I have the kids do a couple of exercises - one has them summarizing the action that is in their textbook and the next one has them acting out scenes using actual lines and a narrator - you'll have to register and post some comments to download them - but there are handouts and lessons at my website: www.awaytoteach.net

[Steve Booton]

Joseph,

Thank you for your quick reply. I have a degree in Theater so your suggestion intrigues me. I'll go directly to your site. Again, thank you.

Kind Regards,
Steve

[Joseph Scotese]

Sorry,

After going back and checking on my website - I noticed that for some reason I had not published my Paradise Lost lessons - but they are up there now, so I appreciate the heads up.

[Mark Childs]

Hmmm, 3 days on a single section from Paradise Lost? Which section are you referring to specifically? Are the students reading the rest of the poem with your cooperating teacher?

It's an astonishing work but in my experience takes closer to 3 months than 3 days. Let me know which part you are specifically responsible for and how your part fits into a larger whole and I will be happy to share some things I've done to teach it.

Best,
Mark

[Steve Booton]

Mark,

Thank you for replying. Yes, three days, Book 1 The Fall of Satan lines 1-270.

Kind Regards,
Steve

[Mark Childs]

Hi Steve,

I'm still stuck on the 3 days, but anyway. . .

Perhaps you could focus on Milton's language? The physicality of his metaphors ("darkness visible" "the mind is it's own place") and the rhetorical figures ("Out of our evil seek to bring forth good . . . out of good still to find means of evil" "better to reign in hell, than to serve in heaven") are great to study. Generating a list of the metaphors and figures would highlight many of the key lines, and it would teach students some keys to making sense of Milton's language. Another thing that has always worked for me is to ask students to look up the Latin/Greek etymology of a word: in many cases, Milton used words according to their original meaning (fits in with his desire to link his poem with ancient epics). Another task is for students to draw the poem, line by line: what does Satan look like, what does Hell look like, how far did they actually fall?

Or, perhaps point out Milton's task to "justify the ways of God to man" and ask students to debate Blake's line that Milton "was of the devil's party without knowing it." I'm not sure how much you are supposed to teach them about drawing evidence from the text to form an argument, but this discussion could be worthwhile if you spend the first two days helping kids compile evidence.

I hope some of these ideas help.

Good luck,
Mark

[Steve Booton]

Mark,

You are kind to have taken time replying to my plea for help. Thank you. Good stuff. I have also received some good information from another NING user J.D. Wilson. See attached. Too, I came across Terrance Lindall reciting the text while showing close-ups of his paintings. Some images are not appropriate in the classroom, bare breasts, but others are simply amazing and should capture students' attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwngvX_mqlw

Again, thank you for scratching out time replying to my plea. It's appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Steve

[J. D. Wilson, Jr.]

I do a thing I call illustrated poetry. I do not know how in depth it goes but I give students the text of the poem and some illustrations of the poems and the students have to find the lines the pictures could illustrate (they do not need to be the lines originally intended by the illustrator. I also have them look at the story of the fall and some other stuff from the KJB about Satan.

Here is what a medievalist whose blog I enjoy said about the distance between heaven and hell (all intended in fun of course).

The distance between heaven and hell

By Dr. Richard Scott Nokes

In Paradise Lost, Satan and the rebel angels fall for nine days through Chaos before landing in Hell. Today in class, I wondered aloud how far Heaven is from Hell, assuming standard rules of velocity.

Wes Cowan, one of my students, went to work on the question. Here's the answer:


Figures:
Terminal Velocity: 176 ft/sec
Seconds in a Day: 86,400 sec/day
Days in fall: 9 day/fall

Solution:
86,400 sec/day x 176 ft/sec = 15,206,400 ft/day
15,206,400 ft/day x 9 day/fall = 136,857,600 ft/fall
136,857,600 ft/fall / 5280 ft/mile = 25,920 mile/fall

Notes:

* This math assumes that the terminal velocity of a falling angel is 176 ft/sec through a matrix of chaos. Being that chaos probably has no air or fluid to resist movement through drag or friction (since it is a void), terminal velocity would be the same as initial velocity.
* If we assume that chaos is indeed “a yawning void” the velocity of the fallen during their entire trip would be the same as their initial velocity. This leads to the troublesome question of, “How fast did God throw the fallen angels from heaven?” If the initial velocity of the fallen angels could be determined by discovering God’s level of wrath and strength of arm at the time the fallen angels were thrown, then the answer could be known.
* This answer also depends on whether or not God has chosen to allow the employment of Newtonian mechanics in regards to chaos and God’s ability to throw.


So, there you go. Los Lonely Boys have their answer. Not really all that far, considering.

Hope this helps.

Cordially,
J. D.

[Steve Booton]

J.D.

Excellent! I too think it very helpful for students to view images of difficult, complex text. As a matter of fact I have downloaded many of the same images you have posted on your worksheet to use during my instruction. Your information, however, gives me structure. Thank you. I think I will also include a youtube selection I came across that has Terrance Lindall reading from the text with his paintings being viewed close up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwngvX_mqlw


Thank you for your reply. Most helpful. I hope to return the favor to you down the road.

Kind Regards,
Steve Booton

[Yuko Nii]

I think that you should know that the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center havs published a broadsheet 11 X 17 inches of Terrance Lindall's complete version of Paradise Lost. Excellent introduction to Milton FOR HS STUDENTS. Costs $3 each and for sschools that order 10 or more $2 each. info: [e-mail]

Also, there is a new Lindall PL movie JOHN MILTON'S PARADISE LOST - THE GOLD ILLUMINATED SCROLL.
http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/2009/12/terrence-lindall-parad...

[Jon Hampton]

Going with your idea of the differences between good and evil, I'm reminded of the Romantic poems by William Blake: The Lamb and The Tyger. I taught both a few years ago as part of an entry unit on poetry and imagery, but I think both poems do a good job of the subject of theodicy--that is to say, "where does evil come from?" Blake's argument is that God made the lamb, a gentle creature, but is God really capable of making the tiger--a violent creature ("Did he who make the Lamb, make thee?") Maybe you can have them examine those two poems as part of homework before you begin your unit? This would get them to think about God as making everything in the universe, including Lucifer before he's cast out of Heaven. Just a thought.

Good luck planning your unit :)

[Steve Booton]

Jon, thank you for taking time out for me from your busy schedule. I haven't read The Lamb and The Tyger for some time, so it will be interesting investigating your suggestion(s). Kind Regards, Steve