Milton's Paradise Lost- Book 8
What is true love and is there a soul mate? Milton makes grand statements- especially during the Renaissance-- about equality, love, and marriage. What do you think?

One of the reasons that good reading can be hard, is that author's may use one of many literary devices. We are going to focus on several throughout the year, beginning with the hardest. We begin with those because you do not have to get them right now. They take time, growth, and experience. Steinbeck is a master of a few of these, namely: symbol/archetype, allegory, and allusion. He isn't trying to be difficult; he is trying to be expressive. We are going to spend a few weeks working our way into these techniques so that reading his book is more meaningful.

​The first and the hardest of these techniques is allusion: a reference to something else, to enrich the text. One of the primary texts that Steinbeck is referring to, also one of the most important English texts written, alluded to, and politic changing, is John Milton's Paradise Lost. It is also one of the most difficult pieces. We are going to listen to music and read an abridged version. It won't be simple, but whatever you take from it will enrich reading in general, and Steinbeck and Shelly's Frankenstein specifically. 

Friday:​ What kind of courage must Steinbeck have had to write his novels? And what kind of courage do readers have to have to face reading them? Lastly, what kind of courage do we have to have to continue to make America what we want and need it to be?
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​We began talking about the Great Depression on Wednesday. Here is a more in depth view. Was it really or only the Stock Market Crash? Or was it more complicated? Watch Crash Course: The Great Depression and take notes.