Paradise Lost: Book II + III

For our second meeting, we continue our slow, attentive reading of Paradise Lost by turning to Books II and III, where Milton widens the scope of the poem and deepens its moral stakes.

Book II takes us into the council of fallen angels, where debate, persuasion, and self-justification replace the thunder of the opening fall. Here, Milton explores rhetoric, leadership, and the subtle ways freedom and ambition can distort judgment. We follow Satan beyond the assembly, across the abyss, toward the newly created world, watching resolve harden into purpose.

Book III shifts dramatically in perspective. We move from Hell to Heaven, from darkness to light, and encounter the poem’s vision of divine knowledge, foreknowledge, and human freedom. Milton asks some of his most difficult questions here: Can freedom exist alongside omniscience? What does responsibility mean in a universe where outcomes are foreseen but not compelled? How does love operate when disobedience is already known?

Please read Books II and III in advance. No other preparation is required. Bring your questions, uncertainties, and reflections. This seminar is not about arriving at answers, but about staying with the tension Milton so deliberately creates, together, and seeing how it speaks to us as modern readers.