Paper topic suggestions

I'll add more as I come up with ideas. I suggest that you do some browsing of the MLA Bibliography,  or better still go to the reference section of the library so that you can look for Ref Z 8578 .H82, which is John Milton: An Annotated Bibliography, 1929-1968.  One look at that book will show you why I won't accept the excuse that you "can't find anything on" a particular topic in Milton.  To make it even more overwhelming, I have sections of the second volume, John Milton: An Annotated Bibliography, 1968-1988, xeroxed and available in my office.

Some overly general starting places for paper ideas (not one is narrow enough to be a good topic yet):

Milton's use of the pastoral (or epic, or masque, etc.) tradition   (If working with the epic tradition, narrow it a lot, perhaps to a single scene or a single element)

Milton's attitude toward death in his early poems

Comparison of the "Nativity Ode" to other similar poems by other 17th century authors

The classical roots of Milton's theories of education

A comparison between Spenser's November eclogue and Milton's "Lycidas"

Milton's attitude toward the virtue of Chastity

An analysis of some aspect of the methodology of Milton's biblical adaptations

Comparison of Christ in PL and PR

Milton's theological position on the nature of the trinity

The idea of hell in Paradise Lost (you could focus on how he came up with the physical description of hell, or you could take a more philosophical appraoch)

Milton's attitude toward sex in paradise

The nature of angels in PL

The function of the chorus in SA

Milton's anti-Royalist politics and his portrayal of a monarchy in heaven  (and/or a monarchy in hell)

Milton's portrayal of creation

Milton's anti-Catholic satire in PL

The character and function of the narrator in PL