ENGL 423 / 523: Milton
In-class essay 2
Fall 2015
Professor E. Derek Taylor
26 October 2015 (Monday)
Instructions: Write an in-class essay 1 (500-600 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 “Life of Milton” (1779), Samuel Johnson argued that Milton’s great epic has at its center a rather glaring problem:
The plan of Paradise Lost has this inconvenience, that it comprises neither human actions nor human manners. The man and woman who act and suffer are in a state which no other man or woman can ever know. The reader finds no transaction in which he can be engaged, beholds no condition in which he can by any effort of imagination place himself; he has, therefore, little natural curiosity or sympathy.
Do you agree, or disagree, with Johnson’s analysis? Why? Be sure to support whatever position you take with relevant evidence from books four through eight 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.
In-class essay 2
Fall 2015
Professor E. Derek Taylor
26 October 2015 (Monday)
Instructions: Write an in-class essay 1 (500-600 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 “Life of Milton” (1779), Samuel Johnson argued that Milton’s great epic has at its center a rather glaring problem:
The plan of Paradise Lost has this inconvenience, that it comprises neither human actions nor human manners. The man and woman who act and suffer are in a state which no other man or woman can ever know. The reader finds no transaction in which he can be engaged, beholds no condition in which he can by any effort of imagination place himself; he has, therefore, little natural curiosity or sympathy.
Do you agree, or disagree, with Johnson’s analysis? Why? Be sure to support whatever position you take with relevant evidence from books four through eight 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.