Question

OF MAN’S first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, 5
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos:


I'm a little bit confused. We are learning scansion, marking out lines with stress and unstress marks. This, I can do. So I know that Milton's Paradise Lost is in blank verse.

But how can you understand why a poet chooses a particular meter to write on a certain subject? And how does knowing that Milton wrote in blank verse help us understand the subject matter better?

Answer 1

http://www.essortment.com/blankversepoet_rjwh.htm

In the first paragraph after <b>Verse paragraph</b>, you should find some ideas to help you understand this. Other articles in here may help, too:
http://www.google.com/search?q=blank+verse&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA

=)

Answer 2

Why do we hum particular songs when we are in particular moods?

Answer 3

thankyou, writeacher! that really helped!

Answer 4

If you are happy you would tend to hum a happy, chirpy song to match your mood. It could also be quite fast and have funny lyrics to make you laugh.

But if you were upset/depressed you would probably hum a sad, maybe slow song because you don't feel like being happy.

Hope this has helped.
RoseSparkle :)

Answer 5

oh i have one last doubt!!! The words Oreb and Sinai are biblical places. I don't know how to pronounce them... which syllables are stressed? is it OReb and SInai or oREB and siNAI???