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Exercising Milton

Al Shoaf

Exercising Milton on discussion lists:

Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 15:54:28 -0500
From: Margaret Thickstun <mthickst@hamilton.edu>
Subject: Passages on exams
To: milton-l@richmond.edu
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Cynthia -- I don't ask for "memory" kinds of tasks anymore. These kids haven't been trained to memorize, so the experience is usually depressing all around. In my course, which is sophomore level, I have two explication assignments early in the semester (I start with Paradise Lost)--so an epic simile and then some other passages that are particularly pithy:
Round 1:
Book 1:302-312, the simile that begins "Thick as"
Book 1:338-355, a two simile bit of description beginning "As when"
Book 1:589-604, beginning "he above the rest. . ."
Book 2:402-416, Beelzebub's speech beginning "But first whom shall we send"
How does Beelzebub describe the task at hand in such a way as to frighten off any volunteers?
Book 3: 21-40, from the invocation, beginning "Thee I revisit safe"
Book 3:40-55, from the invocation, beginning "Thus with the year/ Seasons return"
Round 2:
Book 4, any twenty lines from Satan's soliloquy -- it begins at line 32
Book 4:180-193, beginning "Due entrance he disdained"
Book 4:245-263, beginning "Thus was this place,/A happy rural seat... " Or, if you are brave about classical allusions, Book 4:268-286, "Not that faire field"
Book 4, any twenty lines (as outer limit) from Eve's account of her birth (4:449-491)
Book 4:639-658, beginning "With thee conversing I forget all time"
Book 4: 674-688, beginning "These then though unbeheld in night"
Book 5, any twenty lines (as outer limit) from Eve's account of her dream (5:35-93). Remember that this is a 'guided' fantasy whispered into her ear by Satan. What do the particulars of the dream reveal about what strategies he thinks might work on her? Be sure to keep the outcome of her dream in mind as you formulate your thesis. Then on the final exam, I give pairs of passages, identified by work and date: something from Paradise Lost with something from the Nativity Ode; something from Samson with Sonnet 19, etc. I ask them to discuss the passages in relation to one another. It works very well: students who have been paying attention can pick up on themes, concerns, issues; students who are clever can discuss literary techniques; students who haven't been paying attention reveal themselves in the absurdity of responses, assigning a speech of Satan's to Adam, etc. But there's not too much of that.

From: "Duran, Angelica" <ADuran@sla.purdue.edu>
I believe you are completely correct in asking your students to do so. I use this method based on the good service my instructors' use of such a method had on me (I hope). Below is a section from my undergraduate Milton class final exam last year: the actual exam contained at least 10 lines for each choice and provided them with a half page for their responses. Some
students wowed me while others left me depressed ("did I teach you nothing!"). This is a closed-book, closed-note, open-mind exam. Write legibly.

I. POETRY 40 points _____ For TWO of the following three excepts,
1) Scan the first five lines directly on to the excerpt (5 points). On the space provided below each excerpt, identify the following items related to the excerpt. Do not write outside of the prescribed space.
2) the text (3 pts.);
3) the speaker (4 pts.);
4) a succinct summary relating the excerpt to the context in which it occurs (4 pts.);
5) a short comparison of the themes or forms or images in this excerpt to any other of Milton's texts (4pts.).

A. Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
B. All is best, though we oft doubt
What th'unsearchable dispose

Of highest wisdom brings about,
And ever best found in the close.
C. However, many books
Wise men have said are wearisome; who reads
Incessantly, and to his reading brings not
A spirit and judgment equal or superior

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