Readings

Lewis, C. S. A Preface to Paradise Lost: Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1961. ISBN: 9780195003451.

Empson, William. "Heaven." In Milton's God. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press Reprint, 1979. ISBN: 9780313210211.

Nyquist, Mary. "Gynesis, Genesis, Exegesis, and the Formation of Milton's Eve." In Cannibals, Witches, and Divorce: Estranging the Renaissance. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780801877384.

Kerrigan, William. "One First, Matter All: Spirit as Energy." In The Sacred Complex: On the Psychogenesis of Paradise Lost. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780674785007.

Rumrich, John. "Radical Heterodoy and Heresy." In A Companion to Milton. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003. ISBN: 9781405113700.

Flesch, William. "The Majesty of Darkness." In John Milton's Paradise Lost (Modern Critical Interpretations). Edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publications, 1987. ISBN: 9780877544210.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 1996. ISBN: 9780679879244.

Gross, Kenneth. "Satan and the Romantic Satan: A Notebook." In Re-Membering Milton: Essays on the Texts and Traditions. Edited by Mary Nyquist and Margaret W. Ferguson. New York, NY: Methuen, 1988, pp. 318-341. ISBN: 9780416397406.

Fish, Stanley. "The Milk of the Pure Word." In Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780674857476.

Parker, Patricia. "Eve, Evening, and the Labor of Reading in Paradise Lost." In John Milton's Paradise Lost (Modern Critical Interpretations). Edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publications, 1987. ISBN: 9780877544210.

Empson, William. "Heaven." In John Milton's Paradise Lost (Modern Critical Interpretations). Edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publications, 1987. ISBN: 9780877544210.

Kerrigan, William. "'One First Matter All': Spirit as Energy." In John Milton's Paradise Lost (Modern Critical Interpretations). Edited by Harold Bloom. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publications, 1987. ISBN: 9780877544210.

———. The Subtle Knife. New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 1997. ISBN: 9780679879251.

———. The Amber Spyglass. New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 1999. ISBN: 9780679879268.

Rumrich, John Peter. "Uninventing Milton." Modern Philology 87 (1990): 249-265.

———. "Radical Heterodoxy and Heresy." In A Companion to Milton. Edited by Thomas N. Corns. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003, pp. 141-156. ISBN: 9781405113700.

Grossman, Marshall. "Milton's Dialectical Visions." Modern Philology 82 (1984): 23-39.

Related Background Materials

What happens in "Paradise Lost": a reader's guide. (PDF)
[Charting the sequence of events in Milton's story against where they occur or are narrated in "Paradise Lost."]

Notes on Lewis, preface, Chapters 7-8 (PDF)

Nyquist VI-VII notes (PDF)

Translations of Ramus (PDF)
[This handout translates passages cited in French by Stanley Fish, in "Milk of the Pure Word".]

Some help with Kerrigan (PDF)

Vocabulary for Kerrigan reading (PDF)
[Some unusual terms defined.]

Unusual vocabulary in Grossman (from the OED) (PDF)
[Some unusual terms defined.]

Paradise Lost
[Searchable, annotated text of the poem.]

Early English Books Online
[Use this site to view the original editions of "Paradise Lost" during Milton's lifetime.]

Milton Reading Room
[This useful site has texts of Milton's other works, sources, and a bibliography of criticism.]

Descartes, First Meditation
[See para 12 for the famous hypothesis of the evil demon (referenced in Gross, p. 319).]

The William Blake Archive
[Gross cites plates 5-6 of this text; find it in the Blake Archive (copies differ only in coloration; try comparing them).]

Marshall Grossman, "Milton's Dialectic Visions"
[This link connects you to the Library's JSTOR service. Enter "Milton's Dialectical Visions" in the Search box.]