Studies 1. What had Milton to do with the Puritan revolution? Into how many epochs may Milton's life be divided? To what historical periods do they belong? 2. What pleasure can a person, not an angler, find in Izaak Walton's writings? Would an angler, not a literary man, enjoy reading him? 3. What peculiarities do you find in the style. of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress? Attention has been called to the frequency of his indebtedness to the bible. Take these selections from Pilgrim's Progress and see how many instances you can find in which he uses or paraphrases biblical language. Find peculiar idiomatic expressions that show the language has changed since Bunyan wrote. Do you enjoy reading the selections? What are the enjoyable features? 4. Take the Index and find all that is said about Milton in this course. Read again all that Study the selections has been quoted from him. from Paradise Lost. How many scriptural allusions can you find? How many mythological? How many geographical ? Write in your best prose a paraphrase of the quotations. 5. Would you add others to Hazlitt's list of greatest names in English poetry? 6. How long was the period of Italian influence? Into what ages is it divided? What are the chief characteristics of each age? Which is the shortest age? Which is the longest age? What is the greatest name in the period? Who was the greatest poet in each age? Who was the greatest prose writer in each age? Make a table showing the comparative length of life of the great writers of the period. Make another table showing how the lives of the great writers overlapped. With which of the great writers are you most familiar? Which do you like the best? Which seemed most tiresome to you? What reasons have you to give for your answers to the last two questions? 7. Locate exactly in point of time the five greatest writers the world has known. |