Sample Close Reading PL IX 816-825

After eating the apple Eve becomes like Satan in her inability to see things as they really are in God's ultimate reality. This affects her view of her relationship with Adam. She asks herself, "But to Adam in what sort/Shall I appear/" (816-7). Appearance, and the possibility of changing it, occur only after a separation from reality. This opens the door for deception. At the same time, Eve's logic deteriorates. She thinks to become "more equal" (823) to Adam, but this is literally impossible, an echo of Satan's habit of seeing unity doubled or halved, but not itself.

Sample Close Reading PL IX 421-427

These few lines emphasize the effects of Satan's fallen state on his connection to reality. The word "hap" (421) and the insistent repetition of "wish" (421,22,23) and "hope" (421,23) evoke luck and fortune. Within the world of the poem, of course, luck does not exist; God controls everything. Satan lacks the theological virtue of hope, which would teach him the vanity of wishes. Because he is not properly connected to God, he does not see reality as he should in its fullness. Thus, for him Eve is "veiled" (425) and "half spied" (426). At the moment he is poised to bring his plan to fruition he does not recognize the inherent goodness of God's creation.

Sample Close Reading PL IV 453-470

Eve's account of her own creation highlights the importance of experience in making right choices. Eve awakens and wanders "with unexperienc't thought" (457) to a clear pool of water. Not knowing better, she is entranced by her reflection that is "pleased" (464) to return her admiring looks. The text does not make a moral judgment; Eve simply doesn't know better. Lack of experience is no sin, but vanity is. Eve would have remained pining for the image in "vain desire" (466) had not God taught her about herself. Experience alone, then, is not enough; one must have the proper experience of relying on God.

Sample Close Reading, The Snow Man

"The Snow Man" has a lot to do with facing reality as it actually exists. The last line is the most important for this project. Stevens refers to "Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is" (15). There is a strong emphasis on negation, with two "nothings" and a "not." Facing reality means you cannot add your own thoughts, desires etc to what exists, that is, add "nothing that is not there." "The nothing that is" refers to the starkest of realities. Even if reality seems to offer you absolutely nothing you must accept it because that is all "that is."

NB: This is not terribly well written; I was in a rush, but the ideas are fine.

NB2: Adam, Eve, and Satan especially have problems with reality in PL.

Timaeus Themes/Paradise Lost

A number of themes connect Timaeus and PL.

1. Both address the creation of the world.

2. Both assume a creator god.

     Milton's God is omnipotent, but Plato's demiurge is limited.

3. Both creators make subordinate godlike beings.

    Milton's God makes immortal angels and humans.

    Plato's demiurge makes mortal gods.

4. Both creators intend good for their creations.

5. Milton's God makes a world that is pure matter.

   Plato's demiurge makes a world with a soul that is a god.

6. Both describe how women are made from men.

    Milton's God makes Eve from Adam's rib. She is subordinate to him.

    To Plato, women result from cowardly weak men losing their original sex. Women are subordinate to men.

Paradise Lost Video

Sample Close Reading PL V.28-37

Eve's commentary to Adam about her dream is riddled with doubt. The first indication is the word "if" sandwiched between two uses of "dreamed" (31-2). Certainty about the dream is immediately followed by uncertainty. Other words expressing doubt include "methought" (35) and its near twin "thought" (37). Eve hears "one"(36) call her; she cannot be sure who it is, and thinks it is Adam. She ought to recognize the voice of her husband, the only other human living on Earth.

This uncertainty might indicate a weakness in Eve's character, an inability to distinguish reality from fantasy. If so, the text comments on the ways a weak mind is more susceptible to temptation. Creating doubt where none should exist is an effective strategy for convincing people to act against their best interests. Satan's speech provides a model for others to follow, from sleazy politicians to used car salesmen.

NB: This passage is very dense, so the first paragraph is essentially a literal paraphrase; no reasonable reader could deny Eve's doubt. The second paragraph suggests how doubt might shed light on Eve's character, and then broadens the argument to consider how temptation works similarly in other contexts. An analysis of Eve's character straddles the border between paraphrase and close reading.

Sample Close Reading PL IV.46-57

Satan talks about his relationship with God in economic terms. This has the effect of turning God into a banker and removing the necessary personal element. He refers to "the debt immense of endless gratitude" (IV. 52), which makes the joy of deserved praise a burden to be endured. Satan understands the logic of his analogy, recognizing that "a grateful mind/by owing owes not but still pays, at once/Indebted and discharged" (IV.55-7). Freely offering thanks renders the debt void. The problem is not with Satan's ability to think clearly; he is absolutely right in his understanding of how his own will caused him to rebel. His error lies in the faulty underlying assumption that God is a cosmic scorekeeper - there is no room for God's grace in Satan's theology of monetary exchange.

NB: The first half of this paragraph is largely paraphrase of Satan's fairly complicated logic. The close reading lies in the analysis of Satan's starting point, not his conclusion, which, on its own terms, is sound.

Sample Close Reading PL III.98-102

In this passage, God stresses the free will of Man and the fallen angels. He claims they were "sufficient to have stood though free to fall" (III.99). "Sufficient" indicates that they had good defense against evil, but being "free" allows them to fall. The all-powerful God sounds defensive here, trying to deflect blame from Himself.  He states, "Freely they stood who stood and fell who fell" (III.102). The parallel construction suggests an equality between the two sides, as if freedom were a genuine choice. The constant repetition of words relating to freedom, though, reaffirms the sense of God's defensiveness, as if His statements about freedom somehow remove His power from the equation.

NB: This is presumably not how Milton or God would read the passage, but close reading looks at what the text actually accomplishes/enables for the reader, not the author or characters in the text.