Reading a Passage of Paradise Lost

The idea

A passage of Paradise Lost rewards a slow, ordered reading. First, find the grammatical core: Milton suspends his main verb, so locate the subject and verb before the clauses that delay them; the opening sentence holds back its verb, "Sing," until the sixth line. Second, identify the speaker, because the narrator, Satan, the angels and God speak very differently, and Satan's lines are persuasive by design. Third, notice any epic convention at work: a simile, a catalogue or an invocation. Fourth, read a simile through to its end, since the comparison often turns; the critic Stanley Fish argued that the simile of Satan's spear makes the reader feel the limits of human understanding. Fifth, weigh the passage against the poem's stated purpose, to justify the ways of God to men. A defiant speech from Satan is not the poem's verdict on him; the question is how the context answers it.