Satans symbolic meaning in Paradise Lost

Satan's symbolic meaning in Paradise Lost Satan is often called a sympathetic character in Paradise Lost, despite being the source of all evil, and in the first chapter the reader is presented with some of Satan's frustration. Satan tells his army that they were tricked, that it wasn't until they were at battle that God showed the true extent of his almightiness. If they had been shown this force previously, not only would the rebel angels not have declared war on heaven, but Satan, also, would never have presumed that he himself was better than God. Now they have been irreversibly punished for all eternity, but, rather than feel sorry for themselves or repent, Satan pushes his army to be strong, to make "a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." Hell reflecting heaven and, later, earth reflecting both, will be a common theme throughout the work. Satan chooses twelve close friends: all of them drawn from pagan mythology or from foreign kings in the Hebrew Bible: to echo and mimic Christ's twelve apostles. Satan's angels build a large a glorious temple and call a council, both of which will be echoed in heaven. In fact, Satan uses the same architect as heaven, now called Mammon in hell. Many of the structures and symbols are similar. In heaven and hell there is a king and a military hierarchy of angels. In most cases, however, they the reverse of each other. In Book I, we are

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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the convict- coleridge

Essay question - Miss west The convict by William Wordsworth * Show how poem reflects wordsworth beliefs about prisons * Explore how poem reflects conditions in prisons/treatment of convicts in late eighteenth century * Analysis techniques and how it encourages the reader to empathise with convict. * Use technical vocabulary Plan -Oppression of conflict is described in description -Injustice of oppression - comparison with monarch the convict feels much guilt that "his bones are consumed" - cannot forget past and is paying for it. -> Contrasted with monarch -Concept of freedom is present - to juxtapose with conditions of convicts life. Prisons during late eighteenth century - violent disorder was common - convicts treated with cheap lives Main body. In William Wordsworth preface to his lyrical ballads he draws upon the fact that his poems are going to reflect "ordinary things". He suggests "ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way" (357). This claim is no different than what is presented in his poem "the convict". It can be argued that in his poem Wordsworth reveals his true feelings about prison reform at the time of writing and the empathy that he illuminates towards the convict is effective in engaging the reader's sympathy. The fact that the poem is called the "the convict" allows the reader to fully understand that although we do

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How effective do you find Donne`s use of imagery and language in conveying the strength of his feeling and to what extent could A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy`s Day, Being The Shortest Day be considered a love poem?

Katie Burrows How effective do you find Donne`s use of imagery and language in conveying the strength of his feeling and to what extent could A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy`s Day, Being The Shortest Day be considered a love poem? In the first stanza Donne presents a picture of a dying world, `The sun is spent...The world`s whole sap is sunk...life is shrunk, dead and interred. ` If it can be assumed that the poem is an expression of grief for his dead wife Anne (which would imply the poem is about love, or at least the loss of it), the use of that particular image could have two purposes. Firstly to show that, to Donne, the loss of Anne is worse than the death of the world, 'yet all these seem to laugh, compared with me,' or secondly to show that Donne perceives the death of Anne as the death of the world, as to him she was the world. It is the distinction made by the use of metaphor as opposed to simile, 'life is dead,' that conveys the strength of Donne`s feeling. In the second stanza Donne shows how loving Anne has changed him, 'For I am every dead thing, in whom love wrought new alchemy.' His use of the word alchemy shows the magnitude of Donne`s feeling as it suggests he perceives love as a change of being, and as such before he loved Anne he was a 'dead thing' ; it was only after he fell in love that he began to exist and live. This concept is developed further at the end

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair How does Milton use the character of Satan in Paradise Lost Book One

‘Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair’ How does Milton use the character of Satan in Paradise Lost Book One Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ is not only an exploration of classical events detailed in the Bible, but also a development of them. A dangerous feat, considering the dominant hold that religion had on 17th century England, Milton’s epic poem dares to stray away from the literally believed stories of the Bible and delves into the unexplained and unknown. This is most apparent with his focus on Hell and its sovereign Satan, as these two focal points of Book One are, for the most part, unreferenced in the Bible. However, without any previous scriptural guidelines or knowledge to follow, Milton was granted free reign to develop the character of Satan as he wished, and this lead to him being used in a number of ways. As an epic poem, Paradise Lost requires the presence of a tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character of noble stature or greatness who experiences a downfall as a result of their own mistakes or flaws. This interpretation of the dramatic role demonstrates Milton’s inability to place God in this position as it would be seen as heresy, and as a result, he could not feature as the focal character of the poem. Therefore Milton required the use of a fallible character to act as the protagonist, so he cast Satan in this

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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An Analysis of "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

An Analysis of "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" is written as a dramatic monologue, which is a poem that is read as if on stage, talking to an audience or character in a play. This method of writing has been used because the poem wants to give one perspective, the Duke's, in an effective manner. By using this technique, Browning is also silencing the antagonist, the Duchess, and becoming the protagonist. The rhyming scheme consists of rhyming couplets, which give the poem a sense of order, and make the speaker, the Duke in this case, seem well educated and in control of their emotions and actions. These methods of writing help show the character of the protagonist and the way he viewed the traditions during the Victorian times. There are two different views in which this poem can be interpreted, the Marxist, and the feminist. The Marxist view interprets the poem as if the Duke thinks of everything as his object, and the feminist viewpoint makes the Duke look as if he doesn't treat the Duchess as he should. The Duke's personality is revealed by different aspects in the poem, for example the rhyming scheme, rhyming couplets, makes the poem flow more easily, which leaves no gaps for interruption. This shows the Duke's love of being the centre of attention and being in control. The Duke also shows this keenness of control when he says the painting

  • Word count: 776
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How far do you agree with Dr Johnson that Miltons work lacks human interest?

How far do you agree with Dr Johnson that Milton's work lacks human interest? Samuel Johnson, or Dr Johnson as he was sometimes referred as, was a great English author who made enduring contributions to English literature. Being such a distinguished and renowned author, his views on literature were and still are today, stern and well-known. However, I have views both agreeing with and opposing Dr Johnson's view that Milton's work lacks human interest. Firstly, human interest strictly speaking, is about everyday people just like us, being able to relate to a story, and possibly learn something from it and put it into practise in our own lives. The epic poem Paradise Lost concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man, while dealing with more present topics such a marriage and politics. Milton's purpose, as stated in book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men." This is a good base to start my argument on, which is that I do not agree with Dr Johnson, and believe that Milton's work does hold human interest. By involving politics and marriage into his works, this is surely of human interest, as people will be curious and inquisitive about how things worked back then, and it is therefore of human interest if people want to learn about it. Milton states the purpose of his epic poem, and it is obvious that he intended Paradise Lost to educate people about God. If anything,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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To what extent does religious poetry appeal to readers who hold religious beliefs?

To what extent do you agree that religions poetry appeals only to readers who have religious beliefs? Poetry in general appeals to anyone who is interested in knowing what the poet is talking about for different purposes which could be educational, religious, political or historical. It is like a way of expressing ideas based on various issues of concern which could be child slavery, religion, education, personal feelings and thoughts like Sylvia Plath and so on. Poetry has three meaning; the first meaning is one that the reader gets from the poem, the second meaning is contextual meaning or the meaning relating to the way of life in the period it was written and received in. finally, the last meaning is based on personal values. Religion is a big institution that affects everyone and everything in generally from the government, society, parents and so on. Blake's poems illustrate this and some of the poems from Robert frost although both poets show a contrast in their ideas. Blake's poems talks about everything, from social altitudes to child slavery, marriage, religion, nature and the industrial state. In other words, it appeals to a wide audience and talking wide audience. Blake's poem "the chimney sweep" from the collection of songs of experience illustrates the social attitudes towards children and the church, parents and the church is involved in it. In the poem,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Commentary on Easter Wings by George Herbert

Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store, 1 Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: 5 With Thee O let me rise, As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day Thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. 10 My tender age in sorrow did beginne; And still with sicknesses and shame Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With Thee Let me combine, And feel this day Thy victorie; 18 For, if I imp my wing on Thine, 19 Affliction shall advance the flight in me. store: many goods, abundance. 5 The length of the lines decreases to reflect their content it symbolise a diminished man 0 Herbert alludes to the paradox of the "fortunate fall" or felix culpa. Only by sinning with Eve, and being cast out of the Garden of Eden into a world of labour, pain, and death, did Adam enable the second Adam, Christ, to redeem man and show a love and forgiveness that otherwise could never have been. 8 Feel: "feel this day" in 1633. The two added words disturb the clear metrical scheme (which has six syllables in lines 3, 8, and 13) and are not found in the manuscript of the poem. 9 'Imp' is a technical term taken from falconry, meaning to

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Types of Love in Donne's Poetry

By looking closely at Donne's "The Sunne Rising", and at one other appropriately selected poem by either Donne or another poet, examine the methods the poet or poets use in exploring different kinds of love. N.B. Equal marks are available for your discussion of each poem. 'The Sunne Rising' by John Donne is a celebration of the importance and timelessness of love. The fundamental message in this poem is that Donne and his lover's love is the most important thing in the universe, and surpasses anything else. In the fist stanza Donne personifies and trivialises the sun as a 'busy old fool, unruly sun'. He addresses the sun directly, and the language is conversational - which creates an effect of Donne actually talking to the sun. The tone is indignant; Donne asks why the sun has disturbed him and his lover by peering through the windows and curtains. An original and outrageous idea, he asks the sun 'Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?' Their love does not concur with the movements of the sun and its seasons; Donne is almost suggesting that their love is above it, a clear example of hyperbole. Donne then adopts a rather contemptuous mocking tone, and tells the sun to busy itself with 'late schoolboys' and 'sour prentices', for the sun should be concerned with ordinary people, not lovers. whose love is not affected by the constraints of time: 'Love, all alike, no

  • Word count: 1745
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Evaluation of "My Last Duchess".

RASHID ZAMIR Evaluation of "My Last Duchess" 'My Last Duchess' is a dramatic monologue written by a famous poet called Robert Browning. It is said that he is the best person to write monologues. This poem is one of the best he has written. The person who is speaking in the poem is an Italian duke, who ordered the murder of his wife. At the start of 'My Last Duchess' the Duke is showing off a portrait to an ambassador and states that she looks as if she was still alive, which informs us that she is dead. The duke here enjoys telling these people the story of how he ordered her death. The Duke describes how people are surprised by her looks and he gets very jealous when people admire the painting. He decides to hide the portrait behind some curtains and he acts like he still owns her. This reveals that the Duke was a very arrogant man, who preferred to stay dissatisfied, rather than to try to solve the situation. Even though she is now dead, the Duke likes to think that he still has control of his late wife by hiding her behind a curtain. He does this so that her glance doesn't attract another men. 'The depth of passion in that earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)' The Duke goes on throughout the poem describing his wife in various attitudes. He describes the way she poses for the portrait and the

  • Word count: 766
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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