ENGL 423 / 523: Milton
Fall 2015
Professor E. Derek Taylor
28 September 2015 (Monday)
Instructions: Write an in-class essay 1 (500 words) based on the following prompt. This is an open-book, open-note assignment, and you may bring an outline of your essay to class (just be sure to include it as part of your submission).
Topic: In his “Defense of Poetry” (published posthumously in 1840), Percy Bysshe Shelley offered the following famous comparison of God and Satan in Milton’s great epic:
"Milton’s Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one who perseveres in some purpose which he has conceived to be excellent in spite of adversity and torture, is to one who in the cold security of undoubted triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy, not from any mistaken notion of inducing him to repent of a perseverance in enmity, but with the alleged design of exasperating him to deserve new torments. Milton has so far violated the popular creed (if this shall be judged to be a violation) as to have alleged no superiority of moral virtue to his God over his Devil. And this bold neglect of a direct moral purpose is the most decisive proof of the supremacy of Milton’s genius."
Do you agree, or disagree, with Shelley’s analysis? Why? Be sure to support whatever position you take with relevant evidence from the first three books of Paradise Lost.
Grading Rubric:
A: Carefully organized around a clearly stated thesis; thoroughly supported with direct textual quotations; logically organized and developed; cleanly written
B: Falls short on one point.
C: Falls short on two points.
D: Falls short on three points.
F: Falls short on all points.
Fall 2015
Professor E. Derek Taylor
28 September 2015 (Monday)
Instructions: Write an in-class essay 1 (500 words) based on the following prompt. This is an open-book, open-note assignment, and you may bring an outline of your essay to class (just be sure to include it as part of your submission).
Topic: In his “Defense of Poetry” (published posthumously in 1840), Percy Bysshe Shelley offered the following famous comparison of God and Satan in Milton’s great epic:
"Milton’s Devil as a moral being is as far superior to his God, as one who perseveres in some purpose which he has conceived to be excellent in spite of adversity and torture, is to one who in the cold security of undoubted triumph inflicts the most horrible revenge upon his enemy, not from any mistaken notion of inducing him to repent of a perseverance in enmity, but with the alleged design of exasperating him to deserve new torments. Milton has so far violated the popular creed (if this shall be judged to be a violation) as to have alleged no superiority of moral virtue to his God over his Devil. And this bold neglect of a direct moral purpose is the most decisive proof of the supremacy of Milton’s genius."
Do you agree, or disagree, with Shelley’s analysis? Why? Be sure to support whatever position you take with relevant evidence from the first three books of Paradise Lost.
Grading Rubric:
A: Carefully organized around a clearly stated thesis; thoroughly supported with direct textual quotations; logically organized and developed; cleanly written
B: Falls short on one point.
C: Falls short on two points.
D: Falls short on three points.
F: Falls short on all points.