unit 1 the rise of england...old western culture a christian approach to the great books year 4: the...

Old Western CultureA Christian Approach to the Great Books

Year 4: The Early Moderns

Unit 1

The Rise of England

Workbook and Answer K ey

Please Note: This workbook may be periodically updated, expanded, or revised.

Download the latest revision at www.RomanRoadsMedia.com/materials.

Roman Roads Media is a publisher of classical Christian curriculum. Just as the first century roads

of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and

wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology in print and media

to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. Roman

Roads Media: classical education, in your home.

Old Western Culture is a literature curriculum covering the Great Books

of Western Civilization. It is a classical curriculum, based on the great

books of western civilization. It is a Christian curriculum, which sees

the history and literature of the West through the eyes of the Bible and

historic Christianity. It is an integrated humanities curriculum, bringing

together literature, history, philosophy, doctrine, geography, and art. And it

is a homeschool oriented curriculum, made by homeschoolers with the needs

of homeschooled in mind, including flexibility, affordability, and ease of use.

Year 1: The Greeks

Unit 1: The Epics—The Poems of Homer

Unit 2: Drama and Lyric—The Tragedies, Comedies,

and Minor Poems

Unit 3: The Histories—Herodotus, Thucydides, and

Xenophon

Unit 4: The Philosophers—Aristotle and Plato

Year 2: The Romans

Unit 1: The Aeneid—Vergil and Other

Roman Epics

Unit 2: The Historians—From Idea to Empire

Unit 3: Early Christianity—Clement, Ignatius,

Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius

Unit 4: Nicene Christianity—Athanasius, Augustine,

and Boethius

Year 3: Christendom

Unit 1: Early Medievals—The Growth of European

Christianity

Unit 2: The Defense of the Faith—Scholastics of the

High Middle Ages

Unit 3: The Medieval Mind—Dante and Aquinas

Unit 4: The Reformation—Post Tenebras Lux

Year 4: Early Moderns

Unit 1: Rise of England—Metaphysical Poets, Milton,

Shakespeare, and Bunyan

Unit 2: The Enlightenment—Liberal THought and the

Sparks of Revolution

Unit 3: The Victorian Poets—Neoclassical Poetry,

Victorian Poetry, and Romantic Poetry

Unit 4: The Novels—Austen, Dickens, Dostoevsky,

and Lewis.

Published by Roman Roads Media | 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 | 509-592-4548 | www.romanroadsmedia.com

Old Western Culture: Christendom, Copyright 2017 by Roman Roads Media, LLC

Cover Design: Rachel Rosales and Daniel Foucachon. Copyediting and Interior Layout: Valerie Anne Bost and Daniel

Foucachon. Editors: Andrea Pliego and Lydia Foucachon. General Editor: Daniel Foucachon.

All rights reserved.

M E D I A

R O M A N R O A D S

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Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Early Moderns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Lesson 2: Introduction to Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Lesson 3: Shakespeare’s Sonnets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Lesson 4: Shakespeare’s King Lear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Lesson 5: Shakespeare’s Richard III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Lesson 6: Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Lesson 7: Metaphysical Poets: John Donne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Lesson 8: Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Lesson 9: Introduction to John Milton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Lesson 10: Milton’s Paradise Lost I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Lesson 11: Milton’s Paradise Lost II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Lesson 12: Milton’s Paradise Lost III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Introduction and Overview

If you could take only ten books to a deserted island on which you were to be marooned for the rest of

your life, what would they be? As Mortimer Adler says, this is no game—we are all in precisely that

position. We are simply unable to read all the books there are; therefore, we had better choose well. Some

books exercise our minds by their rigor and move our spirits by their beauty with every reading. Some

books help us communicate with our culture because they have been a common element in education

for centuries. Some books aid our understanding of the physical world by a clear exposition of careful

observations by powerful minds. But very few books

do any of these things well. And as C. S. Lewis says,

old books give us a radically different perspective on

life and our assumptions, and no modern books can

do this at all, no matter how good they are.

As Christians, we understand that ours is an

historical faith, one that originated, developed, and

grew in certain times at certain places. To study and

understand the long stream of history and thought

and to comprehend our place in that stream is to

increase our appreciation of our cultural inheritance,

our ability to use wisely and build faithfully upon that inheritance, and our ability to understand and

respond to God’s work in history.

The conclusion we may draw from all of this is that the old books are best, and the best of the old

books are the best of all. That is why we read the great books. Join us in Old Western Culture as we

explore the best of the old books from a Christian perspective!

About the Instructors

Wesley Callihan grew up on a farm in Idaho and earned a

bachelor’s in history from the University of Idaho in 1983. He has

taught at Logos School, the University of Idaho, and New Saint

Andrews College, all in Moscow, Idaho, as well as Veritas Academy

in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wes is a co-author of Classical Education

and the Homeschool and the founder of Schola Classical Tutorials,

through which he teaches online classes on the great books,

astronomy, church history, Greek, and Latin. Wes and his wife,

Dani, have six children and a growing brood of grandchildren.

“A Reading of Homer,” Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1885

Wes Callihan Peter Leithart

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Peter Leithart, PhD, is President of Theopolis Institute and an adjunct Senior Fellow of Theology at

New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho. He is the author of many books, including Brightest Heaven

of Invention: A Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays. He received an A.B. in English and History from

Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster

Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and 1987. In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University

of Cambridge in England. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and seven grandchildren.

how to use thIs course

Old Western Culture is a four-year curriculum covering the great books of Western Civilization. The four

years are divided into The Greeks, The Romans, Christendom, and Early Moderns. For centuries, study of the

great books lay at the heart of what it meant to be educated. It was the education of the Church Fathers,

of the Medieval Church, of the Reformers, and of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Old Western

Culture is a classical and Christian integrated high school (grades 9–12) humanities curriculum created

with the purpose of preserving a knowledge of the books and ideas that shaped Western Civilization.

recommended schedule

Old Western Culture is designed to accommodate a traditional nine-week term (for a thirty-six–week

school year). A recommended schedule is provided below. We expect the average student to spend

one to three hours per day on this course: first completing the assigned readings and answering the

workbook questions under the “Reading” header, and then watching the lectures and answering the

video questions under the “Lecture” header.

mAterIAls

• Video Lessons. The instructors’ deep knowledge of the classics and decades of teaching experience

are a rich resource for homeschool families. Each unit is divided into twelve lectures.

• The Great Books. Old Western Culture immerses students in reading the classics themselves rather

than just reading about them. Families have two options for acquiring the texts:

1. Use or purchase your own texts. Chances are, you already own at least some of these classics, so

feel free to use your own copies. A list of recommended translations, including Amazon links, can

be found at romanroadsmedia.com, but specific translations or editions are not required.

2. Use the Old Western Culture Readers. Many units of Old Western Culture now have readers that

gather all the assigned reading into one volume. Purchase a paperback copy ($22 each), order

an Amazon Kindle edition ($1 each), or download a PDF (free). Visit romanroadsmedia.com for

more information.

• The Student Workbook. Purchase a hard copy, or visit romanroadsmedia.com/materials to

download a free PDF. The workbook questions allow students to test their understanding of the

Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England

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reading assignments and the lectures. The Answer Key at the end of the workbook provides very

concise answers to the essay questions. They are not intended to be comprehensive. In many cases

entire papers could be written in response to an essay question from this workbook, and students are

encouraged to pursue questions which spark their curiosity. Use the short answers as a baseline for

further conversation and expanded answers.

• Exams. Two exams are available (Exam A and Exam B) for download from the Materials page on

romanroadsmedia.com. Students may use one for practice, or for retake. The Teacher’s Edition of the

Exam (seperate PDF) includes answers as well as notes on grading.

• Additional Resources. Visit romanroadsmedia.com/materials for an up-to-date list of additional resources.

Note: Throughout all materials, we have avoided referencing original works by edition-specific page numbers. We

instead provide location identifiers such as book, chapter, section, and line numbers in order to maintain the flexibility

to use multiple translation options.

AddItIonAl AssIgnments

In addition to the reading, lectures, and workbook questions, students will complete the following:

• Term Paper. Students may choose a paper topic from the discussion questions at the end of each

lesson, expand on an essay question from any lesson, or choose a topic of their own based on the

works or themes of this term. The term paper should be 750–1,200 words long and should persuasively

articulate a thesis while drawing on examples from the original works.

• Final Exam. Visit www.romanroadsmedia.com/materials to download the most recent final exams.

Two options, Exam A and Exam B, are provided. The exams are similar in style and difficulty, but the

content varies. Students who score lower than 90 percent on Exam A should take Exam B two days

later to help reinforce subject mastery.

Age level

In Old Western Culture students will encounter mature themes such as paganism, sexual immorality,

detailed battle descriptions (mostly in actual reading), and nudity in classical painting and sculpture.

We recommend the series for ages fourteen and above, but of course parents will want to consider the

maturity levels of their own children and discuss these issues with them.

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6

Lesson 1Introduction to the Early Moderns

reAdIng

No reading for this lesson.

lecture

Watch Lecture 1, and then answer the following questions.

1. What are two main things we will see in the works we are reading this year? (5:15)

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2. What is the name frequently given to the group of poets including men like John Donne and

George Herbert? (10:25)

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3. What is the Enlightenment? (14:16)

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4. What is the Romantic movement? (17:53)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

Why do you think it is important to read literature that is more than a century old? (6:43)


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Lesson 2Introduction to Shakespeare

reAdIng

No reading for this lesson.

lecture


1. What two kinds of evidence will scholars use to establish authorship? (6:34))

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2. What, according to Aristotle, does hamartia mean? (14:41)

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3. What is the Christian vision of “deep comedy” that is reflected in Shakespeare’s comedies? (23:42)

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4. Why were reading Roman plays and trying to learn the lessons of Roman history popular pastimes

among Elizabethan thinkers and playwrights? (31:33)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

What role does desire play in Shakespeare’s comedies?character, in the midst of many fake characters?

AddItIonAl resources:Simply Shakespeare, Toby Widdicombe

Brightest Heaven of Invention, Peter J. Leithart


10

Lesson 3Shakespeare’s Sonnets

reAdIng

Read Shakespeare’s Sonnets 3, 73, 55, 60, 103, and 106. Remember: Complete all reading and study

questions from reading before watching the lecture.

1. What are two things that Shakespeare writes about in his sonnets that seek to present a challenge

to mutability and death? (Sonnets 3 and 55)

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2. What does “his cruel hand” in line 14 of Sonnet 60 refer to?

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3. Line 12 of Sonnet 73 reads, “Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.” What is the “that”

referring to?

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lecture


4. What is poetry? (00:19)

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5. How does poetry in particular express God’s image? (2:40 and following)

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6. What are three main themes that these Sonnets cycle through? (39:05)

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dIscussIon QuestIons

Describe the relationship between love and the mutability that characterizes our existence as human

beings as presented in the Sonnets.


12

Lesson 4Shakespeare’s King Lear

reAdIng

Read Shakespeare’s King Lear, entire work. Remember: Complete all reading and study questions from

reading before watching the lecture.

1. What does Cordelia mean when she says, “my love’s more ponderous than my tongue” (Act 1,

Scene 1, lines 79–80)?

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2. Lear calls himself “a man more sinned against than sinning” (Act 3, Scene 2, lines1736–1737). Is

this entirely true? Why or why not?

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3. After King Lear’s death at the end of the play, who takes up the rule of the kingdom?

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lecture


4. Why do many critics think that King Lear displays an absurdist/nihilistic, meaningless, and

despairing worldview? (multiple possible answers)

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5. How is Cordelia a Christ figure? (15:46)

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6. What, according to Dr. Leithart, is the basic theme of King Lear? (24:33, 35:02)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

Does King Lear present a Christian worldview? Why or why not?


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Lesson 5Shakespeare’s Richard III

reAdIng

Read Shakespeare’s Richard III, entire work.

1. What does Richard’s opening speech tell us about his character and his plans? (Act 1, Scene 1)

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2. What is the significance of Henry’s wounds reopening and “bleeding afresh” while his corpse is

carried towards burial? (Act 1, Scene 2)

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3. On the eve of battle, ghosts appear to both Richard and Richmond. What are their reactions to

these visitations? (Act 5, Scene 3)

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lecture


4. What is the overall thrust of this series of plays (the two tetralogies)? (10:33)

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5. In what way has Richard III adopted the philosophy of Machiavelli? (16:40)

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6. How is Richard III a tragedy not just about the king, but about the nation of England? (27:02)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

How do the kings of the tetralogies (Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Richard III) show us the

progression of the philosophy and view of kingship in England?


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Lesson 6Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice

reAdIng

Read Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, entire work.

1. Why does Bassanio wish to marry Portia, and what prevents him from courting her? (Act 1, Scene 1)

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2. How is Shylock’s loan to Antonio different from Antonio’s loan to Bassanio? (Act 1, Scene 3)

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3. What is Portia’s reaction to the news that Bassanio is virtually penniless and that Antonio is in

trouble for his sake? (Act 3, Scene 2)

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lecture


4. What are the three separate locations that the play takes place in? What is the character of each

place, and what do these place picture together? (0:44–3:21)

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5. How does the rescued become the rescuer in this play? (15:47)

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6. How does Portia trap Shylock? (34:10)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

How is The Merchant of Venice a very Protestant, Pauline play? How does the final courtroom scene

express a deep understanding of gospel grace?


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Lesson 7Metaphysical Poets: John Donne

reAdIng

Read Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” Holy Sonnets 10, and 14, Meditation 17.

1. What is the significance of Donne’s use of sleep as a metaphor for death? (Holy Sonnet 10)

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2. What does Donne mean when he calls Reason God’s “viceroy in me”? (Holy Sonnet 14)?

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3. In Meditation 17, Donne compares mankind to chapters of a book and to parts of a continent.

What implications does this have for the tolling of the bell?

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lecture


4. Where does the term “metaphysical poets” come from? (1:03)

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5. What are the three kinds of sonnets that are very common in English literature? (17:17)

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6. Describe the rhetorical device “apostrophe.” How does Donne uses it in Sonnet 10? (19:59)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

Discuss the theme of death and suffering in Donne’s Meditation 17. Is his message encouraging or

depressing? Why or why not?


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Lesson 8Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell

reAdIng

Read Herbert’s “Redemption,” “The Collar,” and “Love III” and Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.”

1. What is pictured by “the old lease” that the tenant wishes to cancel in the first stanza of Herbert’s

“Redemption”?

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2. What is the poet’s soul guilty of in “Love III,” line 2?

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3. What type of poem is Marvell trying to imitate in his “To His Coy Mistress?”

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lecture


4. What was the Interregnum (1650–1660)? (07:41)

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5. What are the three significant events that take place during the seventeenth century concerning

the English government?

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6. What did Andrew Marvell have to do with the writing of Paradise Lost? (26:20)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

7. Discuss George Herbert’s use of the “volta” or “turn” of thought and imagery that often occurs in the

last couple of lines of his poems. What is the effect that this device has? Do you think he uses it well?


22

Lesson 9The Reformation in England

reAdIng

Read Milton’s “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “On His Blindness,” and “On the Late Massacre

in Piedmont.”

1. What is Milton imitating when he invokes the “Heavenly Muse” in stanza three of On the Morning

of Christ’s Nativity?

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2. “And that one Talent which is death to hide / Lodged with me useless…” What is the “Talent” that

Milton is referring to in “On His Blindness”?

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3. What does Milton ask God to do with the “martyred blood and ashes” (lines 10-11)?

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lecture


4. What is one of the reasons that Milton wrote his Areopagitica (a defense of free speech and free

press)? That is, what was he responding to?

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5. What does Milton seem to have believed about creatio ex nihilo?

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6. What was the old meaning of the word “fond?” (See Sonnet 16/19 “On His Blindness”) (29:25)

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7. What was the name of the group of Protestants who were slaughtered in Italy, thus leading to

Milton’s writing Sonnet 15/18 “On the Late Massacre in Piedmont?” (31:06)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

Explore Milton’s use of Psalm-like imagery and language in his sonnets. What effect does this have on

the reader? Is it forceful? Why or why not?


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Lesson 10Milton’s Paradise Lost I

reAdIng

Read Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books 1–4.

1. Who is the “one greater Man” referred to in Book I, line 4?

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2. In Book 2, what is the plan that Satan and his followers finally decide to act upon?

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3. What event in Milton’s personal life is he talking about in Book 3, lines 45–55?

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4. What is Satan’s primary motivation in plotting the downfall of mankind? (Book 4, lines 390–392)

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lecture


5. What meter does Milton use in Paradise Lost?

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6. What does Milton assert is his main purpose in writing Paradise Lost?

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7. What did the word world mean in Milton’s time? (17:51)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

Describe Satan’s personality as depicted in Paradise Lost. Do you find him charismatic and convincing?

Why or why not? Why do you think many readers and critics find Satan more interesting than Adam

in his unfallen state?


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Lesson 11Milton’s Paradise Lost II

reAdIng


1. What does Eve dream about under the influence of Satan? (Book 5, lines 28ff).

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2. What happens on the third day of the battle in Heaven against Satan? (Book 6)

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3. Why does Raphael twice call mankind “thrice happy men?” That is, what are the three blessings

that make men “thrice happy?” (Book 7, lines 625–632)

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4. After Raphael briefly answers Adam’s question concerning the celestial motions, what does

Raphael tell Adam he should concern himself with? (Book 8, lines 159–178)

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lecture


5. Why does Raphael say that he has been sent down to Adam? (7:41)

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6. What did Augustine say about the first sin (and all sins, fundamentally)? (10:46)

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7. What does Raphael tell Adam about curiosity and desire for knowledge? (17:20)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

How might Raphael’s repeated warnings to Adam (about the coming temptation, against being tempted

to submit to Eve’s beauty, etc.) play a part in Milton’s project to “justify the ways of God to men”?


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Lesson 12Milton’s Paradise Lost III

reAdIng


1. What three works of poetry is Milton referring to in his mentions of 1) the “wrath / of stern

Achilles,” 2) the “rage of Turnus for Lavinia,” and 3) “Neptune’s ire, or Juno’s, that so long /

Perplexed the Greek and Cytherea’s son?” (Book 9, lines 14–19.

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2. Who descends from heaven to give sentence to Adam and Eve? What does he do next? (Book 10,

lines 85–223)

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3. What is the “unexpected stroke, worse than of death!” that Eve laments in Book 11, line 268?

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4. Who is the “second stock” that the angel Michael is referring to in Book 12, line 7?

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lecture


5. What is theologically problematic with Eve’s request to work separately from Adam and Adam’s

subsequent agreement? (7:38)

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6. Satan is not concerned about being logical in his arguments to Eve. What is he concerned

about? (11:05)

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7. Some of the Romantic poets (such as Byron and Shelley) read Paradise Lost and found Satan as

the great hero. What happens to Satan and his devils in the end of the poem that argues against

this interpretation? (16:15)

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8. Despite the title, how does Paradise Lost end on a high and encouraging note? (26:03)

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dIscussIon QuestIon

What is your opinion of Milton’s characterization of Adam and Eve and their relationship to one

another? Do you think it is a biblically accurate representation? Why or why not? How would our

broader culture view this relationship?

Answer Key


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Lesson 1Introduction to the Early Moderns

1. First, the growth of great scientific and tech-nological ideas and man’s basic dominion over the world by a systematic, logical application of observation, the principles of science, and so on. Second, the breakdown and the degenera-tion of the old Christendom that made Europe what it was in the medieval period. We’ll see the growth of skepticism, the growth of rational-ism, and the denial of the power of revelation.

2. The metaphysical poets

3. A philosophical movement that began to put excessive trust in human reason—in logic and rationality—as the source of meaning and truth and significance instead of revelation

4. A philosophical movement that rejected the trust in reason and instead moved to a reliance on emotion, intuition, imagination, and feeling as the source of truth, meaning, and significance.

Lesson 2Introduction to Shakespeare

1. 1) Attributed authorship on published copies of the plays. 2) Evidence from contemporaries (e.g., are there writers and playwrights who are contemporaries of Shakespeare who ac-knowledge Shakespeare as a poet/playwright).

2. Hamartia is a “missing of the mark,” some-times called a tragic flaw or moral flaw on the part of the main character. It can also look like a tragic/moral blunder, that is, a mistake made unknowingly (e.g., in the story of Oedipus).

3. The biblical idea that Dr. Leithart calls “deep comedy” is the idea that the end of human his-tory is going to be better than the beginning. It is the movement from a garden to a garden city (“Eden glorified”).

4. Elizabethans considered Rome, far more than Greece, to be the source of their civilization and thus more important to learn from than the peri-od of Greek power and the supremacy of Athens.

Lesson 3Shakespeare’s Sonnets

1. Reproduction and writing. You can live on in your offspring and in words written about you, particularly in poetry. The passing of time.

2. Time or maturity.

3. Poetry is a concentrated excess of language; a use of language or speech that is both concen-trated and excessive.

4. God is a speaker and a maker. We are made in the image of a God who creates and creates things that are completely unnecessary. God needs nothing outside of Himself, and yet He created the world and all that is in it. Poetry, like other arts, is an unnecessary use of language; it both says things that need to be said at all as well as saying them using an excess of language.

5. Change/mutability, love, and writing.

Lesson 4Shakespeare’s King Lear

1. Her love for her father is greater and truer than she can express with words. She cannot flatter her father as her sisters do, because she loves rightly, with appropriate affection befit-ting a loving daughter.

2. No. Lear, while certainly misused by his treacherous daughters and their husbands, bore some responsibility because he had relin-quished his power by giving his kingdom over to his daughters. He also banished his only obedient and loving daughter out of anger that she could not flatter him as her sisters did. He

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showed himself blind to the love of Cordelia, susceptible to the flattery of Goneril and Re-gan, and foolish in managing his kingdom.

3. Edgar.

4. 1) The play ends where it began. 2) The play raises hopes only to dash them. 3) The play employs comic effects within the tragedy, which hints at a possible comic resolution.

5. She is even more beloved because she’s been forsaken by her father (king of France uses language from Isaiah). She plays a redemptive role throughout the play. When her father asks if she is his daughter Cordelia, she responds with “I am.”

6. If you demolish the hierarchy of society, then everything is at war with everything else. No-body knows his place, and everyone is at war with each other. Everything descends into appetite, and everything eventually becomes cannibalistic and eats up itself.

Lesson 5Shakespeare’s Richard III

1. Richard confesses that he is not suited to this time of peace and, because of his deformity, is not fit to play a courtier. He therefore purpos-es to become a villain.

2. They reopen at the presence of his murderer, Richard.

3. Richard is fearful and suspicious, desiring to test the loyalty of his soldiers by spying on them. Richmond, on the other hand, is encour-aged and confident that the next day’s fighting will bring victory.

4. The development of a certain kind of politics that is distinctly different from the medieval outlook that is represented by Richard II.

5. His kingship depends on his ability to manip-ulate and control the people around him. He

is the consummate actor in every scenario, willing to do anything and embracing brutali-ty and violence while smiling and putting on a show of piety.

6. The villainous king (Richard III) begins to in-fect the entire kingdom. Everyone around him begins to become murderous, to dissemble and lie and hide their real intentions. The whole kingdom collapses when the king is immoral and murderous.

Lesson 6Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice

1. She is fair and virtuous (and rich). But he is not rich enough to compare with her other suitors.

2. Shylock’s loan is rooted in contempt and a desire for gain and thus has conditions upon it. He places a harsh interest on the loan—his “pound of flesh” from Antonio. Antonio makes his loan to Bassanio out of love and affection and a desire to help Bassanio in his efforts to woo Portia. There are no harsh conditions placed on its repayment.

3. She thinks nothing of the debt owed, offering to pay it twenty times over. She loves Bassa-nio and wishes him to know no disquiet, and because Antonio loves Bassanio as well, she therefore loves Antonio.

4. 1) Venice—great commercial city, place of law and business, ruled by ) money and the desire for profit, the city of man, 2) Belmont—“beau-tiful mountain,” everything that Venice is not, place of music and art, place of nighttime, a lunar location, grace and beauty, a touch of heaven on earth, city of God, and 3) the home of Shylock—hell on earth. Together these places form a kind of cosmos—heaven and earth and the abyss under the earth.

5. Portia, rescued from her casket and the law of her father by Bassanio, immediately turns


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around and becomes the rescuer of Bassanio’s friend, Antonio.

6. She traps Shylock by insisting on the letter of the law even more strictly than Shylock the Jew. She brings mercy by insisting on the very letter of the law.

Lesson 7Metaphysical Poets: John Donne

1. As after sleep there is waking, so after death comes resurrection.

2. He means that Reason is a ruler in his own soul, subordinate to God Himself. However, in this instance, Reason fails him and proves “weak or untrue.”

3. The tolling of the bell is for you and for me. Mankind is linked by a divinely instituted bond, and so when one man is buried, that ac-tion concerns us.

4. Dryden, in the late 1600s, used the term as a pejorative, saying that these poets appealed to metaphysics instead of sticking with the sens-es. Samuel Johnson, famous literary critic in the 1700s, popularized the term.

5. English (Shakespearean) sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, and the Italian sonnet.

6. Apostrophe is a type of personification in which the speaker addresses something—e.g., an object, a place, an abstract idea, or a per-son—that isn’t there as if it were there and could hear him. In Sonnet 10, the speaker uses an apostrophe to address Death.

Lesson 8Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell

1. The “old lease” could be referring either to the tenant’s sin/guilt or to the old covenant with its attendant sacrifices. Likely, it is referring to both.

2. Dust and sin.

3. He is attempting to write what is called a carpe diem poem, imitating the Roman poets like Ovid.

4. This is the period between kingdoms when England was a Republic with a Lord Protec-tor (Oliver Cromwell) rather than a monarchy with a king.

5. The English Civil War (at the end of which the king is beheaded), the Interregnum, and the Restoration (of the monarchy).

6. Andrew Marvell was a friend of John Milton and was instrumental in getting Milton out of prison, after which time Milton wrote his great epic. Milton had been thrown in prison for his actions and ideals during the Interregnum and the beheading of the previous king.

Lesson 9Introduction to John Milton1. He is imitating classic works of poetry, such

as Homer and Vergil, in which the muses of Greek and Roman mythology are called upon to assist the poet in his work.

2. His writing. (It is also a reference to the talents in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.

3. He asks that God sow them over all of the Ital-ian fields. This echoes Tertullian’s statement that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

4. Milton had written a pamphlet arguing that divorce ought to be made easier than it was at the time. This received a lot of push-back and made many people unhappy. The Areopagitica was written in response to that push-back.

5. It seems that Milton believed that God created the world out of some sort of pre-existent mat-ter, much like a potter makes vessels out of clay.

6. Foolish.

7. The Waldensians.

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Lesson 10Milton’s Paradise Lost I

1. Jesus.

2. They decide to investigate the rumor or “prophesy” that had circulated in Heaven re-garding the creation of a new world so that they might see if some sort of mischief may be enacted there.

3. His blindness.

4. Revenge.

5. Iambic pentameter.

6. To justify the ways of God to men.

7. All that exists; all of creation. The same as what the ancient Greeks meant by cosmos and the Romans meant by mundus.

Lesson 11Milton’s Paradise Lost II

1. She dreams of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and a bright angel that encour-ages her to take and eat of it.

2. God sends His Son, the Messiah, to rout Satan and his followers.

3. They were 1) created in God’s image, 2) placed in the garden to dwell and worship God, and 3) given rule and dominion over creation.

4. With the things God has given him—Paradise and his Eve.

5. To warn Adam of the coming temptation.

6. Sin is at root refusing to adhere to God. All sins are a falling away from clinging to God.

7. He cautions him about being too desirous of knowledge for its own sake. He says it’s a kind of greed or gluttony, and that gathering knowledge needs to be tempered.

Lesson 12Milton’s Paradise Lost III

1. The Iliad, the Aeneid, and the Odyssey.

2. The Son. He clothes them out of pity.

3. Being banished from Paradise.

4. Noah.

5. It sounds like there is a little bit of doubt en-tering in before the Fall. The other issue is that Gabriel has already warned Adam of the dan-gers of idolizing his wife and giving in to her against his better judgment.

6. He is concerned about rhetoric and about be-ing persuasive.

7. Satan and his followers are turned into serpents.

8. In the vision that is given to Adam, we see that God will do something in the world that no one could have anticipated and even the an-gels could only guess at.

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