Milton's Paradise Lost

Get everything you can out of your time reading the classics with the Christian Guides to the Classics Series!

Leland Ryken provides a clear pathway to understanding the "Great Works" through this engaging series of short guidebooks. Beginning with "why the classics matter" and "the nature and function of literature," readers will find a helpful path to reading and analyzing influential works in the Western canon.

Each book:

Includes an introduction to the author and work Explains the cultural context Incorporates published criticism Defines key literary terms Contains discussion questions at the end of each unit of the text Lists resources for further study Evaluates the classic text from a Christian worldview. This guide opens up the paramount epic in the English language, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and showcases Milton’s understanding of crime and punishment in the events of creation, paradisal perfection, the fall, and redemption.

1. Opening Credits
2. The Nature and Function of Literature
3. Why the Classics Matter
4. How to Read a Story
5. Paradise Lost: The Book at a Glance
6. The Author and His Faith
7. Paradise Lost as Epic and Anti-Epic
8. Preliminary Considerations
9. Book 1
10. Book 2
11. Book 3
12. Book 4
13. Book 5
14. Book 6
15. Book 7
16. Book 8
17. Book 9
18. Book 10
19. Book 11
20. Book 12
21. Leading Topics In Paradise Lost
22. Closing Credits