Books and Authors question: With Paradise Lost as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?

The verified answer to “Books and Authors question: With Paradise Lost as the reference work, which book–author pair is correctly matched?” is Paradise Lost — John Milton, option B. The source-backed, question-specific record explains: Paradise Lost is correctly associated with John Milton. The work’s first publication is conventionally dated to 1667, and its original language is English. These three details—title, author, and language—form the decisive bibliographical combination required here. John Milton, a major English literary figure, is also associated with Areopagitica; that companion title helps confirm the authorship independently rather than through guesswork. The distractor set (The Canterbury Tales — Ernest Hemingway; The Old Man and the Sea — Leo Tolstoy; War and Peace — Geoffrey Chaucer) must therefore be tested as complete statements: one true fragment cannot make an entire option correct. A candidate should first lock the title to its writer, then check the language, and finally use 1667 as a chronological cross-check. A common examination trap is to confuse an author’s nationality with the language of composition, or a translation date with first publication. Another is to treat a well-known adaptation or later edition as the original work. Revision takeaway: remember the compact chain “Paradise Lost — John Milton — English — 1667,” and connect it with Areopagitica for stronger recall. This evidence establishes the bibliographic relationship required in this Books and Authors item. A correct solution must preserve the exact title, author, publication context, language, award or comparison requested by the stem. Similar periods, genres or national traditions do not make two book–author pairs interchangeable. Option B gives Paradise Lost — John Milton and satisfies the wording of the question. The remaining choices—The Canterbury Tales — Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea — Leo Tolstoy and War and Peace — Geoffrey Chaucer—do not satisfy.