PARADISE LOST ~ A BRIEF SUMMARY

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A bit of an overview what Milton´s poem is about...

some definitions of Paradise as found on dictionary.com


par·a·dise [par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]

–noun

1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.
3. (often initial capital letter) Eden (def. 1).
4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.
5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.
6. Architecture. a. parvis.
b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.

7. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian, Pa·ra·di·so [pah-rah-dee-zaw] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME, OE paradīs < LL paradīsus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daéza enclosure]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

PARADISE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller briefed reporters Monday on the shooting at an Amish school. Highlights from his briefing...

Week 1: Research tasks

Conduct some individual research into one of the following.

1. Paradise (BBC Article)
   
2. The Amish community
   
3. Gun crime in US schools

Be prepared to give a brief verbal presentation to the group, summarising what you have learnt and your reaction to the material.

Films we might want to see:

Michael Moore - Bowling for Columbine
Gus Van Sant - Elephant
Peter Weir - Witness

Please add to the list if possible. Thanks.

Keep up to date with what the rest of the group are doing at: -

http://foundparadiselost.blogspot.com

Stimulus

Fatal shooting at US Amish school

Scene of shootings

A gunman has shot dead four girls and injured several others before killing himself in an attack on an Amish school in the US state of Pennsylvania.

The gunman entered the class and ordered all the boys and some adults to leave. He then tied up the girls and began shooting them in the head.

Police named the killer as 32-year-old truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV. He is not Amish himself.

The attack is the third shooting at a US school in the past week.

In the latest shooting, the gunman was said to be heavily armed and seemed prepared for a long siege.

He lined up the girls in front of the blackboard, tying their feet using wire or plastic cuffs.

In pictures: School attack How the shooting unfolded

"It appears that when he began shooting these victims, the victims were shot execution style in the head," said Pennsylvania police commissioner Col Jeffrey Miller.

The attack happened at a one-room school for Amish children aged six to 13 in the village of Paradise near Nickel Mines in Lancaster County.

The Amish are the Anabaptist Christian descendants of German settlers who reject many types of modern technology in their effort to lead a life true to holy scriptures.

They restrict the use of cars, telephones and television to varying degrees.

Col Jeffrey B Miller said the gunman entered Georgetown School in the morning, armed with an automatic handgun and shotgun.

He told the boys to leave, along with a pregnant woman and three women who had young infants with them.

He then tied up the girls and barricaded the doors with large pieces of wood.

Police arrived at the scene at about 1045 (1445 GMT) and set up a cordon around the school, Col Miller said.

The officers tried hailing the gunman on their car loudspeakers, but were unable to make contact, he said.

The Associated Press news agency quotes Col Miller as saying a person who visited the school passed on a warning from the gunman that he would open fire unless the police withdrew.

As the message was going through shots fired in rapid succession were heard, Col Miller said.

Police stormed the building, breaking the windows to enter. But by the time they got there three girls and the gunman were dead. A fourth girl later died in hospital.

Seven people were found injured, at least three of whom were shot in the head.

'Normal behaviour'

Roberts was a local milk tanker driver who often picked up milk from Amish farms in the area.

A father of three, he had worked his night shift as usual on Sunday night, finishing at 0300 on Monday.

FACTS ABOUT THE AMISH Anabaptist Christian denomination Communities in the US and Canada Many communities reject links to outside world Most Amish shun modern technology including electricity and cars Plain clothing - no buttons allowed in some communities Speak English and a German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch Who are the Amish?

His wife said he had seemed perfectly normal as he walked his children to the school bus at 0845, as he did every day.

However, when his wife returned to the family home around mid-morning she discovered suicide notes that he had written to each of his children.

The police said there were indications that he was motivated by an incident that happened some 20 years ago.

It is not thought that Roberts had anything against the Amish community but chose the school because it was close by and had young girls.

In a separate incident, two Las Vegas schools, one high school and one elementary school, were temporarily locked down while police hunted for a teenager spotted carrying a gun on the high school campus.

These latest incidents come at the end of a week of gun-related violence in US schools.

Last Wednesday a 16-year-old girl died when an armed man, who also killed himself, took six students hostage at a Colorado high school.

And on Friday, a head teacher at a high school in Wisconsin was killed when he confronted an armed 15-year-old student as he entered the school.

Introduction

Paradise Lost is a performance installation site-specific to a school hall space inspired by a fatal shooting in a school in the town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, USA in 2006. Mixing live and recorded action with music, movement and text, seven performers, one man and six women will create and re-create a forensic re-enactment of this real-life event in which four school children were killed. The performance will take the form of a line of enquiry into notions of faith, religion and (in)fidelity. The research will cut across verbatim accounts of the incident, the belief system of the Amish community and an in depth investigation into what makes a man kill others and then himself.