Q.1. Who was Milton?
Ans. John Milton was the greatest epic poet in English literature. His best-known epic poem is published in 1667.
Q.2. Which age did Milton belong to?
Ans. John Milton belonged to the Puritan age.
Q.3. What do you mean by ‘The Restoration Period”?
Ans. “The Restoration Period’ signifies the period between the return of Charles II to the British throne and the revolution of 1688.
Q.4. What is Milton’s idea about the universe?
Ans. According to Milton’s cosmology, the whole created universe is suspended from Heaven by a golden chain. Various insulating layers are provided between the spheres. Among these are the Chaos and the Old Night.
Q.5. What are the four basic elements according to Milton’s cosmology?
Ans. According to Milton’s cosmology, there were four basic elements that made up all earthly matter. These were earth, air, fire, and water. They were naturally repugnant to each other and only the imposition of God’s will made them bend to natural laws.
Q.6. Whom does Milton invoke in his epic Paradise Lost and what is his purpose in the invocation?
Ans. Milton invokes the Heavenly Muse or God for his assistance in writing his epic, Paradise Lost. His purpose is to prove God’s eternal foresightedness and His unending love and care for mankind.
Q.7. Why was the taste of the forbidden fruit mortal for Man?
Ans. Before eating the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve were angelic beings, living happily in Heaven. But as soon as they tasted the fruit of the temptation of Satan, they became mortal human beings with sensual passions.
Q.8. What was the first sin of Man and what were its consequences?
Ans. The first sin, committed by Adam and Eve, the grandparents of mankind, was eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in Heaven. As a result of this sin, they lost heavenly innocence, became mortal, and were ordained to live on earth with sufferings till Jesus Christ paid the price of man’s sin and enabled him to regain the lost seat of Heaven.
Q.9. What is chaos?
Ans. Chaos means the disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space, supposed to have existed prior to the ordered universe according to some religious cosmological views.
Q.11. How was Satan punished by God?
Ans. God hurled Satan headlong from Heaven and he fell in a track of flame from the ethereal sky. He fell down actually into the fathomless abyss of Hell. He had to dwell there forever being bound in unbreakable chains and afflicted by fire.
Q.12. How was Satan’s sorrow aggravated? Or, Why was Satan tormented?
Ans. Being within the doomed condition Satan’s sorrow increased. He remembered his lost happiness and was much tormented by his sufferings in Hell. The entire lake showed a picture of utter desolation, waste, and wild.
Q.13. Where was the prison for the fallen angels made?
Ans. The vast prison of Hell was made in the lowest part of chaos which is far away from the light of God.
Q.14. What is the distance between Heaven and Hell?
Ans. The distance between Heaven and Hell was three times the distance between the earth, the center of the Universe, and the northernmost limit of the Universe.
Q.15. Who is Satan?
Ans. In Hebrew ‘Satan’ signifies the Chief adversary of God and mankind and so Milton calls him the “Arch-Enemy”. His synonym is the devil. He was the leader of the angels who rebelled against God in Heaven long ago.
Q.16. What is Satan’s view on the defeat of the fallen angels?
Ans. Satan, the leader of the fallen angels, tries to inspire his army saying that the last war could not lessen their physical strength; instead, their experience and wisdom have been increased.
Q.17. What does Satan suggest to continue their war against God?
Ans. Satan encourages his followers, saying that as they have gained experience of warfare by fighting the last battle and since their strength is in no way inferior to God’s, they may wage eternal war against Him by physical force or cunningness or both.
Q.18. What is Satan’s sole delight?
Ans. While speaking to Beelzebub, Satan announces in a downright manner that carrying out God’s orders will never be their task. On the contrary, their sole delight will be to do ill ever, to oppose God’s noble task. Even they will never attempt to find means of evil out of good.
Q.19. To which sea animal has Satan been compared in vastness by the poet?
Ans. In the vastness of Satan’s body, he has been compared to the monstrous sea creature ‘Leviathan’ mentioned in the Old Testament.
Q.20. How will God baffle all the malice and ill-will of Satan towards man?
Ans. God will baffle all the ill will and malice of Satan by producing unlimited goodness and kindness for man but confusion and sufferings for him (Satan).
Q.21. Why and how did Satan bid farewell to Heaven? Or, When did Satan express his nostalgia?
Ans. Satan’s nostalgia may be traced in his bidding farewell to the “happy fields (Heaven) where the joy forever dwells!” He has felt shocked at the “mournful gloom” of hell which he has to exchange for the celestial light of Heaven from where he and his followers have been overthrown.
Q.22. How long is Satan’s spear? Or, What impression of Satan’s spear does the poet give?
Ans. In comparison with Satan’s spear, the tallest pine cut down on the Norwegian hills and shaped into a mast of the prime ship of a fleet, would, according to the poet, seem a mere stick.
Q.23. How did the fallen angels, lying in slumber, respond to the last command of Satan?
Ans. When the fallen angels heard Satan’s rousing call, they were filled with shame, instantly they rose and got themselves prepared to execute their general’s order.
Q.24. When does Milton compare the rebel angels to the Barbarians?
Ans. At the direction of Satan, his army (the fallen angels) descended instantly on the hot sulfurous plain in a disciplined manner. At this point, the fallen angels have been compared to the barbarians that descended from the icy and over-populated regions of the North, crossed the Rhine and Danube, and like a flood spread over the south of Europe and entered Africa.
Q.25. What is ‘Judah’?
Ans. Judah is the name of a tribe of Israel descended from Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ with a kiss.
Q.26. Who was Moloch?
Ans. Moloch, one of the fallen angels, became the god of the Ammonites and was worshipped with inhuman rites in Rabba and in the neighboring countries. His idol was made of brass with the figure of a king and the head of a calf and with hands outstretched, children were sacrificed to appease him.
Q.27. Who was Chemos?lan
Ans. Chemos was the chief God of the Moabites, a Canaanite nation inhabiting the country east of the Dead Sea and south of Ammon. He was often identified with Baal-Peor and his worship was accompanied by drunkenness and debauchery. Solomon built a shrine to him as he did to Moloch.
Q.28. Who was Josiah?
Ans. Josiah, King of Judah, was a devout worshipper of Jehovah, the true God of the Old Testament. He set himself to cleanse his kingdom of all idolatrous practices. It was he who stopped the worship of both Moloch and Chemos.
Q.29. What do you mean by “Baalim” and “Ashtaroth”?
Ans. ‘Baalim’ is the plural form of “Baal” who was the sun god and the supreme male deity of the Phoenicians and the Syrians. He was also known as ‘Baal-Peor’. Similarly, “Ashtaroth” was the collective name for moon goddesses. The singular form is ‘Ashtoreth” who was the supreme female deity of these nations and the counterpart of ‘Baal’. She was the equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite.
Q.30. Who was Thammuz?
Ans. Thammuz was a Syrio-Phoenician god, equivalent to Adonis of the Greeks. He would be worshipped by the maidens of Israel at Jerusalem with an intense desire for sexual pleasures.
Q.31. Who was Dagon?
Ans. Dagon was the national god of the Philistines. His worship seems to have been introduced from Babylonia. The name has been derived from the Hebrew “Dag” -a fish, and from the Hebrew word for “com”. Dagon is also the god of agriculture.
Q.32. What do you mean by the word, “Belial”?
Ans. Belial was not the name of any god. The word simply meant worthlessness. In the Bible, the word, sometimes, occurs as a proper name. However, Milton imagines Belial as a heathen god. Belial here represents both effeminacy and lust.
Q.33. Who is Jove?
Ans. Jove is Jupiter, the supreme god, patron of the Roman state, and brother, and husband of Juno. He is identified with the Greek god Zeus.
Q.34. How did the fallen angels march in the field of Hell? Ans. The fallen angels marched in perfect battle order to the accompaniment of the Dorian music of flutes and soft recorders.
Q.35. What was the effect of the Dorian music upon the fallen angels?
Ans. The soft mysterious music helped the rebel angels forget the pain of walking on the burning soil of Hell.
Q.36. What does Milton compare the fallen angels too?
Ans. The defeated angels with their lost luster are compared to the forest oaks or the tall pines with their tops burnt by lightning or struck by thunder.
Q.37. What is the importance of Satan’s fifth speech?
Ans. The fifth speech of Satan is very important because, in that very speech, he announces his new strategy of war against God. He wants to win this new war through treacherous cunningness. In this speech, he also orders his followers to invade the new world that God intended to create.
Q.38. What leadership qualities of Satan do you trace in his last speech?
Ans. Satan’s heroic leadership may be traced in his initiative, determination, rebellion, and cunning against the monarchy of God. This is clearly indicated when he declares before the assembly of the fallen angels his firm determination to wage a war, open or secret, against God. He rules out the possibility of compromise with the Almighty.
Q.39. Who is Mammon? What type of angel was he?
Ans. Mammon is the angel who led the expedition of a group of fallen angels at the hill with mines of metallic ore. The extremely greedy Mammon is the personification of avarice.
Q.40. Who made mankind acquainted with greed?
Ans. Mammon, the most greedy fallen angel taught mankind to ransack the bowels of mother Earth for treasures. Thus mankind became acquainted with greed.
Q.41. What is the name of the capital of Satan’s empire?/ What is Pandemonium?
Ans. Pandemonium was the name of the capital of Satan’s empire. It was the home of all the demons in Hell. It was to the fallen angels as the Pantheon, a temple in Rome, was to the gods. The word ‘Pandemonium’ is now used to express a place full of tumultuous noise, confusion and discord.g
Q.42. Who is Mulciber?
Ans. Mulciber is one of the evil angels who fell from Heaven with Satan. In Heaven, he was the architect of mansions for the angelic host. He was the Greek god Hephaestus. He is the architect of Pandemonium, the capital of Hell.
Q.43. In what sense is Satan a Renaissance hero?
Ans. Satan stands as the most dominant and powerful figure of the Renaissance in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. His Renaissance qualities may be traced in his initiative, rebellion, cunning stubborn pride, courage and fortitude in adversity, and above all, organizing capacity as the leader of the fallen angels.
Q.44. Who was Rimmon?
Ans. Rimmon was a Syrian god worshipped at Damascus which was situated between the rivers Abana and Pharphar. Rimmon had the insolence to defy the true God. He lost the allegiance of Naaman who was cured of his leprosy by the prophet, Elisha. But he got as a worshipper the foolish king Ahaj.
Q.45. Who is the ‘Arch-Enemy’ of God and man?
Ans. Satan is the Arch-Enemy of God and man. Milton gives the literal meaning of the word “Satan’ as the Arch-Enemy or the adversary of God.
Q.46. What are the objects, compared to the fallen angels as they lay unconscious on the burning lake of fire in Hell?
Ans. The fallen angels lying unconscious on the burning lake of fire in Hell have been compared to (i) the autumnal leaves on the brooks in Vallombrosa, (ii) The scattered sedge afloat on the Red Sea after a storm and (iii) the floating carcasses and broken chariot wheels of the Egyptian army, on the Red Sea after the Israelites had crossed over. his potent
Q.47. What was the miracle performed by Moses with rod?
Ans. In order to force the Pharaoh the King to let the Israelites leave Egypt, Moses summoned, by waving his potent rod, a huge swarm of locusts which darkened the whole land. This was one of the miracles performed by Moses.
Q.48. Why was Pharaoh, the king called “impious Pharaoh”?
Ans. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt was impious and wicked. because he defied God and refused to obey His command and let His people go astray.
Q.49. Why is Egypt called the land of the Nile?
Ans. Egypt is called the land of the Nile because it owes its fertility to the river Nile.
Q.50. Who was called the great Sultan and why?
Ans. Satan, as the leader of the fallen angels, was called the great Sultan by Milton. Sultan not only implies grandeur and absolute power but also as being the usual title of Mohammedan rulers, opposition to the true faith.
Q.51. What do you mean by “Old Olympus”?
Ans. Olympus was the name of a mountain range in Greece. Greek poets spoke of it as being the abode of Zeus and other gods. Its summit was covered with perpetual snow.
Q.52. What is Babel?
Ans. Babel may refer to Babylon, but it may also mean the Tower of Babel.
Q.53. Why does Milton say that Pandemonium the capital in Hell rose like an exhalation?
Ans. As a result of the angelic effort of Pandemonium, the capital in Hell rose from the land rapidly like a mist to the accompaniment of music. Owing to the total absence of bustle, noise and other signs of labour, the building seemed to rise naturally out of the earth like an unsubstantial mist.
0.54. Who is Beelzebub? eum iod?
Ans. In Hebrew ‘Beelzebub’ means “The Lord of Flies”. He was the prince of Hell, next to Satan in power. Historically he was the most alluring false god of the children of Israel.
Q.55. What is the theme of the epic “Paradise Lost”?
Ans. The major theme of Paradise Lost is the ‘Fall of Man’ on account of his disobedience to God in eating the fruit of the Forbidden Tree.
Q.56. What is Leviathan? In which poem do you find it?
Ans. Leviathan refers to a sea monster. It is found in “Paradise Lost”.
Q.57. What is “invocation” in an epic?
Ans. Invocation is a convention of classical literature and of epics in particular, in which an appeal for aid (especially for inspiration) is made to a muse or deity, usually at or near the beginning of the work.
Q.58. Who is the architect of Pandamonium?
Ans. Mulicber is the architect of Pandemonium.
Q.59. What is John Milton’s intention in writing ‘Paradise Lost’?
Ans. Milton’s aim in writing “Paradise Lost” is to “justify the ways of God to men”.
Q.60. What does ‘Man’s first disobedience’ refer to?
Ans. The phrase ‘Man’s first disobedience’ refers to the incident of the eating of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve.
Q.61. Who is Jehovah?
Ans. “Jehovah’ is the name of God as described in the Christian translation of the Old Testament.
Q.62. What is a blank verse?
Ans. Blank verse is a type of poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
For example:
“A once as far as ángels kén he views The dismal situation wáste and wild.
