John Milton
Lesson plans for Paradise Lost and other poetry

| Biography and Background | | Paradise Lost | | Other Poems |

Biography and Background

Audio files of Milton's poetry, links to other resources.

Links to poetry and prose along with a bibliography of criticism.

Paradise Lost

This page presents writing and discussion questions on Paradise Lost .

This study guide covers books 1 and 2 of Paradise Lost .

These lecture notes include background information about epic poetry and the Protestant Reformation as well as critical commentary.

Several teaching resources here: an anticipation guide, a Cloze activity, a unit overview using Bloom's Taxonomy, vocabulary activities, and more.

A synopsis of each book.

Chronological order of key events.

Critical commentary and lists of motifs to watch for.

A list of literary terms and concepts related to the epic.

An extensive study guide, with summaries of each book, biography, essays and criticism, Biblical allusions, links to related works of art, and 301 questions and answers.

Background information. Follow the links to the left for additional support.

Plot summary, discussion of style, imagery, themes, more.

Other Works

Links to poetry, including "Lycidas," "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," "On His Blindness," Paradise Lost , Paradise Regained , "Samson Agonistes," and many others.

Students work in small groups. Each group learns about one English poet from this era, and then each group teaches the others.