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"To it thy language, letters, arts, best life,/ Which might with half mankind maintain a strife./ All which I meant to praise, and yet I would,/ But leave, because I cannot as I should."

A. A sonnet by Shakespeare
B. An excerpt from "Paradise Lost"
C. An excerpt from "Faust"
D. An excerpt from "Ode to a Nightingale"

User Cedd
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The passage is from 'Paradise Lost' by John Milton, which contrasts with Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets and theatrical expression. Milton's epic poem is renowned for its blank verse and profound theological themes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The passage provided is from "Paradise Lost" by John Milton, not Shakespeare, Faust, or Keats. Milton was a 17th-century English poet who crafted this epic poem in blank verse, which details the biblical story of the Fall of Man. This specific excerpt from "Paradise Lost" showcases Milton's ability to blend classical eloquence with Christian theology. His language, while complex, was designed to evoke powerful imagery and intense emotion, catered to the avid readers and theatre-goers of the Renaissance period, much like the language of Shakespeare. However, Shakespeare's work, such as Sonnet 18 or plays like Twelfth Night, is known for its iambic pentameter and unique rhyme schemes, distinguishing it from Milton's blank verse.

Shakespearian and Petrarchan sonnets are two different structures of poems, where the former typically follows a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and includes a volta, or a turn in the argument, after the first eight lines or before the final couplet. On the other hand, Milton's work is in a different vein, striving for a grand and theatrical expression of profound themes such as temptation, free will, and redemption in "Paradise Lost".

User Nlloyd
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