Pick one text from Milton
-A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle
-Areopagitica
-The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
-The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
-Lycidas
Then research one or more of the following contexts in the work:
Biblical (using the Geneva Bible or the King James Bible)
mythological (using any credible source, primary or secondary)
biographical (using any credible source for the poet’s biography)
historical (using any credible source to contextualize the historical moment of the poem’s composition or publication)
literary historical (using the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics or any other credible source for accessing the poet’s participation in a literary movement or use of a particular genre)
In the selected text, find references to the bible and mythology and use the bible and or mythology books to support your claims etc.. Don’t use academic resources, quote things like the bible and or a trusted mythological books.
After researching relevant contexts, return to the poem to reflect upon how this context opens up potential meanings for the poem. Take notes to determine what you believe to be the poem’s overall meaning or significance. Once you’ve arrived at a central interpretation, develop your thesis statement and topic sentences. Your essay should include a thesis statement that asserts your interpretation of the poem’s meaning and then signals how your context[s] contribute to that interpretation. Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that both clearly asserts the paragraph’s interpretive claim and advances the concerns of your thesis statement.
