EVENING IN PARADISE, JOHN MILTON (XVII)
Group work: Kenny, Giambruni, Bernusi, Torrendell and Donato
- What kind of writer was he? Explain.
1) Characteristics of Metaphysical poets
- He wrote Paradise Lost. What is it about?
2) Summary of the poem:
Paradise Lost is about Adam and Eve, how they came to be created and how they came to lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. It’s the same story you find in the first pages of Genesis, expanded by Milton into a very long, detailed, narrative poem. It also includes the story of the origin of Satan. Originally, he was called Lucifer, an angel in heaven who led his followers in a war against God, and was ultimately sent with them to hell. Thirst for revenge led him to cause man’s downfall by turning into a serpent and tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
- Now, read the poem and say what you understand from it using your own words.
3) The poem starts describing an evening in which every minute is more quiet and darker. All animals are asleep except for the wakeful nightingale with is singing. The writer describes the evening as similar to paradise and the day as the time to work. In that way, paradise is achieved, if you work hard when you are still alive.
4) Analogy: is a literary device that helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas. By using an analogy we can convey a new idea by using the blueprint of an old one as a basis for understanding. With a mental linkage between the two, one can create understanding regarding the new concept in a simple and succinct manner.
In the poem this literary is device is employed to build up a relationship between the two concepts which differ from each other: “Evening and Paradise”.
The analogy in this poem is that after having worked during most of your life, peaceful nights would come and leading you to paradise.
Evening: “Silence” ; “Twilight”
Paradise: “Majesty” ; “Brightest”
5)
- Analogy: is a literary device that helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas. By using an analogy we can convey a new idea by using the blueprint of an old one as a basis for understanding. With a mental linkage between the two, one can create understanding regarding the new concept in a simple and succinct manner.
- Symbolism: Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant.
- Personification: Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing – an idea or an animal – is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings.
6)
It could account as a funeral scene.
Although, Milton uses peaceful images to link both concepts: Evening and Paradise. In some way, he is leading us to the path of death and taking us away from life by describing in deep the majesty of heaven.
Stages: DAY/SLEEP/DEATH/PARADISE
Analyzing quotes: Games at Twillight
I worked with Sofia Montoya and Tota Lupi and in the following virtual period we had to select 10 quotes taken from the story we had already read called Games at Twilight written by Anita Desai and analyze them.
- The ignominy of being forgotten – how could he face it?
This Quote represents a very important moment in the story where we can find Ravi reflecting about life and how frustrating it is to be forgotten by your own friends.
- “Silence by a terrible sense of his insignificante”
In this quote Ravi is going through a moment of accepting reality and how disgusting it is to be forgotten by your own friends. When someone remembers you is because he cares about you and you are significant for that person, this means Ravi wasn’t neither remembered or significant to his friends.
- “His voice broke with rage and pity at the disgrace of it all and he felt himself flooded with tears and misery.”
This quote represents the moment at which Ravi realized he has been forgotten. He went out of the shed and saw his friends playing another game, while he was hiding. This quote shows the exactly feeling of loneliness and disappointment, the misery and pain of not having won and being forgotten.
- “He had wanted victory and triumph – not a funeral.”
This quotes shows the importance of the game for Ravi. It was clear that for him it meant more than just a little kids game, and he really wanted to win. But after realizing that he couldn’t win because his friends were playing another game he had ended up in his own funeral.
- “…his success had occupied him so wholly that he had quite forgotten that success had to be clinched by that final dash to victory…”
This quote represents the feelings of Ravi throughout all the story. First, he wanted to succeed and for that reason he was happy and enthusiastic. He felt as if he was the best hide and sick player. But then, when he realized that for succeeding he needed to finish the game, that was the moment he realized he was not the best player because he had not touched the wall to be a winner.
- He…wondered how many more creatures were watching him, waiting to reach out and touch him, the stranger.
The following quote shows how Ravi was feeling when hiding on the shelter, afraid of the dark and all the animals that could be hiding with him. He saw Raghu as the stranger who was trying to catch and touch him and the animals and creepy things he imagined were the creatures. - It took them a minute to grasp what he was saying, even who he was. They had quite forgotten him.
Ravi had been forgotten. Alone in the shelter after long hours of being hided in the dark he was still playing the game, but his friends didn’t, they were already starting to play another game. As he came out of the shed and shouted that he had won and the other children stared at him in amazement, the fantasy that he had created crushed and he ended up humiliated. - It was an insect…exploring him.
Ravi has chosen to hide on the unused shed. It was seldom opened and filled with the detritus of the households broken chairs and tables, old buckets and such like. He had never been inside when it was lit up, much less in pitch darkness like now. The smells emanating from the inside suggested there were different sorts of creatures hiding in there. Ravi was glad he had got away from Raghu but also terrified by the spooky insides of the shed where nothing was visible. But there was something he felt crawling at the back of his neck, a spider! - No life stirred at this arid time of day
The following quote shows the weather at India where the whole story takes place. Desai provides very vivid imagery such as this throughout the story to remind us of the dogged, unforgiving heat by direct description. - To defeat Raghu…and to be the winner…would be thrilling beyond imagination.
This quote directly illustrates the theme of fantasy vs reality because it represent the part when Ravi was going to win and was so proud of himself that he didn’t realize how long he had been hiding. It represents his fantasy of being as good as the older kids.
