Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
by John Milton
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| published
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April 29th 2003
by Penguin Classics
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| first published
| 1667 |
| binding
| Paperback |
| isbn
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0140424393
(isbn13: 9780140424393)
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| pages
| 512 |
| description
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Edited with an introduction and notes by John Leonard.
[close]
Edited with an introduction and notes by John Leonard.
[close]
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| date added
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12-21-06
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WOW! I had never read Milton until I was forced to in my Chaucer/Shakespeare/Milton class and I was blown away! I absolutely loved this epic poem! Milton was the best educated man in England at this time. He spoke or read every European language and even dabbled in Algonquin. He was part of the Cromwell government and wrote a lot of political tracts that contain the roots of much of the political philosophy that is the foundation of our country. In a scathing political pamphlet called The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates...more
WOW! I had never read Milton until I was forced to in my Chaucer/Shakespeare/Milton class and I was blown away! I absolutely loved this epic poem! Milton was the best educated man in England at this time. He spoke or read every European language and even dabbled in Algonquin. He was part of the Cromwell government and wrote a lot of political tracts that contain the roots of much of the political philosophy that is the foundation of our country. In a scathing political pamphlet called The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, Milton wrote, “all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself…and they lived so until from the root of Adam’s transgression, falling among themselves to doe wrong and violence…they agreed by common league to bind each other from mutual injury." Milton believed very strongly that governments were necessary to protect men from their own vices, but that the “power of the Kings…is nothing else, but what is onely derivative, transferred and committed to them in trust from the people, to the common good of them all, in whom the power yet remains fundamentally." While this concept of executive power is widely accepted in western society today, it was far from the mainstream for seventeenth century England; where the prevailing philosophy was that the king’s right to rule came from God alone. One of the many purposes of Paradise Lost was a medium through which Milton could present his radical political views. In it he argues that men should ideally rule themselves in small familial groups, but because of men’s vices, they must set up stronger governmental systems. He uses Satan, whom he associates with Charles II, as the model of power unrighteously wielded, and sets up Christ as the model of proper authority.
In book four, Milton describes Adam and Eve’s character before the fall, “Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure / Severe, but in true filial freedom placed / Whence true authority in men." Eve is submissive to Adam (at first) and, because Adam is submissive to God, he rules gently and correctly over Eve. In this state, men are in a state of freedom. A natural hierarchy exists in the patriarchal order of the family. It is the “true authority of men” because it mirrors man’s relationship with God. Later, in book twelve, Milton makes this point clearer as Michael shows to Adam the decedents of Noah who “Shall spend their days in joy unblamed and dwell / Long time in peace by families and tribes / Under paternal rule." Milton sees this natural paternal order as the idyllic form of governing mankind, and the one that allows the most freedom and peace for the individual.
Of course this peaceful set up cannot last, and in the very next sentence Nimrod “arrogates dominion undeserved” to himself and becomes the first King. This new form of authority is a rebellion from the natural power structure of family rule. It makes the many people on the bottom of the hierarchy slaves to the few on top. While this argument could be brought against most rulers throughout history, Milton implicates Charles II specifically in this description of Nimrod by saying, “from rebellion shall derive his name / Though of rebellion others he accuse." This refers to the restoration of Charles to the throne after the Commonwealth collapsed, after which many of the leaders of Cromwell’s government were hanged as traitorous rebels.
Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton makes clear that he is not just critiquing monarchy, but Charles II in particular. He goes so far as to associate Charles with Satan himself. For example, in book one, Milton describes Charles’ heady lifestyle in connection with Satan's brood, “In courts and palaces he also reigns / And in luxurious cities where the noise / Of riot ascends above their loftiest tow’rs…witness the streets of Sodom." Although Milton surely disapproved of this sort of heady living, it is not the main reason that he condemned Charles’ authority. It is Charles’ claim to divine right that so irks Milton, and he uses Satan to show how spurious this claim is, “Me though just right and the fixed laws of Heav’n / Did first create your leader." Later, Adam counters this assertion with Milton’s sentiments, “But man over men / He made not lord, such title to himself / Reserving” (XII.69-71).
Book five shows that Satan assembled his crew of demons with the intent that they would help him get what he wanted. In fact, he assembled his leadership together under the false story that they were going to have a council on how best to “receive our King / The great Messiah. He has no thought of the wellbeing of those who follow him, but instead beguiles them with “counterfeited truth” to fight so that Satan can become as God. Satan does not serve them, they serve him; and follow him to their eternal damnation. For Milton, the real evil in monarchy is that inevitably the king will stop seeing himself as the servant of the people, and begin seeing the people as his servants. Compare this to the approach that The Son takes.
Christ willingly accepts the role as savior to mankind; knowing that it will mean his death as God’s sacrificial lamb. It is only after this acceptance to be the servant of men that God gives Christ his divine authority: “Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt / With Thee thy manhood also to this throne…All power I give thee." According to this model, an executive should have as his motivation the welfare of the people over whom he lords. It is only through his service to the people that he receives and maintains authority. This is the model that Milton would have earthly governments follow; and if the executive of the nation, whatever title he may bear, does not serve the good of the people, they have the right to select one who will.
Though the Commonwealth for which Milton argued so strongly eventually failed, he, like Christ, found a greater victory in defeat. Milton’s political views espoused in Paradise Lost eventually won over England and most of western society. Thomas Paine used very similar verbiage in his extremely influential political tract Common Sense “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.” And then later he says. “Here then is the rise and origin of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world.” This is the philosophical bedrock of the concept of a limited government. The idea that powers of government ought to be limited to only that which the people cannot do themselves, and to let people govern themselves as much as possible, is one of the foundational philosophies of the Republican Party today. One can even read Milton in our Declaration of Independence, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” The reach of his work has far surpassed the “fit…though few” audience he envisioned for it. It is a part of our everyday lives. I can’t say whether this idea originated with Milton, but his inclusion of it in Paradise Lost, with its widespread sway in England and here in the US, gave it great influence; which we still feel today.
Beyond his political views I was astounded at his theology. I agreed with the vast majority of his doctrinal positions including a trinity of seperate indivduals; God the Father, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost (whom he invokes as the muse in good epic fasion). Jesus and several archangels make the earth under the direction of the Father. Satan rebels because of pride and attempts to usurp the Father's athourity, taking a third of the angels of heaven with him. Christ was chosen as the savior in a council in heaven. Men can only be forgiven through the stonement of Christ and through personal repentance...I could go on. He was so ahead of his time in this arena as well.
The last thing I wanted to mention was his use of Satan playing the classical hero. Satatn displays the atributes of a classical hero along the lines of Odysseus, and Achiles. Milton does this so that he can show what true heroism is; as modeled by Christ. For Milton the true hero was humble, a servant of the people (which was his ideal for a governmental executive), and found his stregnth in obedience to god's will. He shows throughout the book how the new Christian heroic model is superior to the old classical model of physical prowess, cunning deception, and courtly lover. (for more on this subject I recommend Steadman's Milton and the Renaissance Hero.)
It's to bad that Milton is no longer read today as much as it was from the time he wrote it to the twentieth century. It is a true classic, and contains so much that is foundational to our culture still today.
If you need help on all of the allusions and classical references in Pardise Lost I recommend this website sponsored by Dartmouth College http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milt... It was very helpful with some of the obscure references....less
bookshelves:
classics,
epic-poetry,
poetry
Read in November, 2005
Milton wrote this while blind, and claimed that the work was one of a divine inspiration which came to him in the night. If there is any modern text of the quality to be believably added into the Bible, it is this one. Indeed, as it outlines portions of that book which, thanks to the basis of combined mythic stories, are never explored. It also updated not only the epic, but the heroic form, and its questioning of the devil is a great philosophical exploration, even if it may be a failure, as I ...more
Milton wrote this while blind, and claimed that the work was one of a divine inspiration which came to him in the night. If there is any modern text of the quality to be believably added into the Bible, it is this one. Indeed, as it outlines portions of that book which, thanks to the basis of combined mythic stories, are never explored. It also updated not only the epic, but the heroic form, and its questioning of the devil is a great philosophical exploration, even if it may be a failure, as I shall later try to explain.
So, the question remains: even if the vatican did not decide to explicitly include it, why are there not smaller sects which we expect should have sprung up around such and inspiring and daring work? The answer is that one need not explicitly include something when it has been included implicitly. It is not common to take Milton's view of events as accurate because it was derived from the Bible, and not recognize that most of it is entirely original work.
Under Constantine, Hell and the Devil were re-conceptualized. The representation of Hell in the Bible is often metaphorical, and does not include 'fire or brimstone'. Hell is defined as 'absence from God' and nothing more. This is supposed to be a painful and unfulfilling experience, but not literal physical torture.
Much of the modern conceptualization of Hell is based upon Hellenic mythological influences with verses from Revelation taken out of context for support. The place of 'fire and brimstone' is where the Devil and the Antichrist are put after the apocalypse, and is never stated as being related to human afterlife.
Likewise, the Devil is most commonly depicted as a greedy idiot chasing after farts. The only tempting he ever does Biblically is during Job, where he must first ask God if he is permitted to interfere. The concept of the Devil as a charming, rebellious trickster and genius is entirely Milton.
He portrays him this way to align Satan with the heroic figures of Epic Poetry. This is not because he thinks of the Devil as a hero, but rather so he can subvert that concept to show that heroes should not be rebellious murderers as they were in ancient stories, but humble, pious, simple men.
He gives the Devil philosophical and political motivations for rebelling, but has him fail to notice that God cannot be questioned and defeated. Unfortunately for Milton, this requires that one absolutely believe this assertion without ever testing it. Anyone who believes it unquestioningly (such as C.S. Lewis) is bound to find that the Devil is foolish to question the natural order.
However, Milton himself states that the Devil had no choice but to doubt, and that with our own rational arguments, man cannot help doubting either. In this case, we must then fall in with Blake, and agree that Milton was the Devil's man, but never knew it.
The strength of Paradise Lost is that both of these views stand well-supported, even though Milton may have sided himself with one more than the other. It is a great book of questions, and a book which is entirely demanding on the reader to think and to try to understand.
We are supposed to sympathize with the Devil because he is heroic and dangerous, but we also know he is the Devil. We know that to sympathize with him is wrong, and that he is supposed to be wrong. Milton here invented the concept of the Devil we cannot help but enjoy, and who we must fight daily to overcome.
What he may not have realized is that the Devil is doubt, and that doubt will always deconstruct and old answer and indicate a new one. The fact remains that metaphysically, doubt can only injure us in a realm we cannot know exists. As the enemy of any tyranny--of men, of ideas--doubt is the helpmeet of all who struggle. The Devil is the father of doubt, and the final answer to doubt is always ignorance: either in believing, or in not believing....less
bookshelves:
finished-classics
Read in April, 2008
I hope no fan of Milton ever reads this review. And if you are a fan of Milton, go find one of many other reviews that will be a little better to your liking.
Had I read this book with the perspective of a student, or perhaps even as a potential instructor, I suspect my view of the twelve-book poem would have been far more favorable. As it was, I did not. Rather I read it as myself, a person who is rather sarcastic and critical of most things, but especially continuity errors.
I found m...more
I hope no fan of Milton ever reads this review. And if you are a fan of Milton, go find one of many other reviews that will be a little better to your liking.
Had I read this book with the perspective of a student, or perhaps even as a potential instructor, I suspect my view of the twelve-book poem would have been far more favorable. As it was, I did not. Rather I read it as myself, a person who is rather sarcastic and critical of most things, but especially continuity errors.
I found myself stumbling not on the poetry, but on such things as the lengthy description of the pantheon of pandemonium being made with mined gold, wrought with comments on greed and how all those who look for such riches are doomed. This is impressed rather heavily, to be followed by the sun being made with gold and precious gems, heaven being full of similar wealth, and even Christ's chariot of 'sparkles dire' is studded with precious stones and capped with a sapphire throne (book six, line 750 starts you off on the description of the chariot).
Were I reading this as a student, I could probably make excuses for the different standards of wealth. I could probably even attempt to justify why Adam and Eve seem to gain absolutely nothing from eating the fruit of knowledge. Adam says often beforehand how working in the garden is good. They are told of Satan's presence in the garden and recognize this as being something to fear. Thus, they know of good and evil. After the fruit, the only alteration is a lustful interlude, to be followed by argument over it. Another angelic intervention where they are told everything to come, and they wander away in sorrowful hope. The Angels are thus the ones who are conveyors of knowledge, not the fruit of knowledge. And so, with Milton, it might as well be the Fruit of Lust and Damnation.
As it stands, and as I have read it, Paradise Lost was not what I would call an enjoyable work. I find no great epiphanies in it, or divine inspiration. I find a great deal of misogyny and even more references to classical myths that, if I didn't know it was perfectly fine in Milton's time to interweave Christianity and Greco-Roman myth, I would find a bit off. In total, it read like a rather bad biblical fanfiction with heavy crossover.
That being said, Paradise Lost is still a good work to read. For even if it strains my patience and sarcasm, it also gives an excellent perspective on quite a few quotes and characterizations that were to come after. In a way, the book is less important than what people have done with it over the years....less
bookshelves:
fiction,
literary
Read in October, 1994
Portions of this book were assigned for my Brit Lit class. I read about half of the assigned portions. I was distracted at the time by various events in life and wasn't yet a very good student.
My professor had done his PhD work on Milton and taught with a contagious passion. So much passion that I decided, after the discussion was over, to buy the whole book. During our five day Fall break in my sophomore year I sat on the front lawn of my college and read Paradise Lost. Nonstop, gettin...more
Portions of this book were assigned for my Brit Lit class. I read about half of the assigned portions. I was distracted at the time by various events in life and wasn't yet a very good student.
My professor had done his PhD work on Milton and taught with a contagious passion. So much passion that I decided, after the discussion was over, to buy the whole book. During our five day Fall break in my sophomore year I sat on the front lawn of my college and read Paradise Lost. Nonstop, getting up for meals and other important breaks but otherwise spending that whole break reading Milton. Hardly anyone else remained on campus. The weather was cool and breezy and beautiful. I sat under a tree and read lengthy portions out loud, which helped me get into the rhythm. Once in the rhythm of reading I tasted heaven itself. This book was an awakening for me, a trigger that opened up my soul and allowed me to understand a small portion of eternity. It was an epiphany weekend for me, one which transformed my soul, and remains in many ways an anchor for my faith. During the dark times of my soul I remembered those days and knew, knew, knew there was something to still hope for.
This is a hard read and one that likely requires a lot of space, quiet and time. It takes a while to get into his rhythm and finally dance with his words, but if you can, if you can get away from this world for a while and devote yourself to Milton's work you'll find a new reality opening up. The man saw heaven. The man knew God. His writing is genius and extraordinary, far beyond anything else I've ever read.
This book, literally, changed my soul and my life. ...less
Read in May, 2008
I am not Christian so I didn't have any of the guilt some readers might feel when they start to root for Satan at the start of this poem. He seems kind of dreamy in a tall, dark, handsome and...umm...evil sort of way. So yeah, if you believe in what the bible says, he really screwed things up for us. But if he hadn't, I probably wouldn't have so much fun when I drink. On the other hand, I am not a big fan of that whole sleeping with his own daughter, Sin and spawning Death and then Death sleepin...more
I am not Christian so I didn't have any of the guilt some readers might feel when they start to root for Satan at the start of this poem. He seems kind of dreamy in a tall, dark, handsome and...umm...evil sort of way. So yeah, if you believe in what the bible says, he really screwed things up for us. But if he hadn't, I probably wouldn't have so much fun when I drink. On the other hand, I am not a big fan of that whole sleeping with his own daughter, Sin and spawning Death and then Death sleeping with his own mother and spawning all the hell hounds that live in Sin's belly. And what was with God having those two idiots guard the gates of hell. It was like he WANTED humanity to fail.
I was actually pretty surprised that the poem itself didn't get in the way of reading this. After the first couple of books, I totally had the hang of the blank verse and even accidentally started SPEAKING in blank verse until my husband asked me what the hell was wrong with me. What the hell, indeed!
Adam and Eve seem like total suckers because they were TOLD what was gonna happen and they STILL mucked it all up. Totally unsympathetic characters. And Adam - only eating the apple because he didn't want Eve being tossed out on her ass alone...? GAG. Whatever - he prolly told her to eat it first to see what would happen and then blamed the whole thing on her. Because, if it is true that he KNEW it was wrong while he was doing it, that makes him 10 times worse than Eve who was seduced by the serpentine Satan because of her trusting and innocent nature.
All that ranting aside, I really did enjoy reading this. If I had read this 10 years ago...I wouldn't have read it. It gave me a lot to think about and I got to annoy the hubby for a good 2 days with all my iambic pentameter....less
Read in April, 2003
recommends it for:
all english speaking and reading human beings
Among the best poems in human history.
I wrote my thesis on Milton's handling of passion in this work, using his other writings and his letters for context. Clearly I should not attempt to reproduce the argument here, but the idea is to point out that Milton changed the way we see the action of being moved by another. To be moved upon, pressed, changed, entered - to experience passion - had been condemned by great thinkers since the Greeks. The garden, in the western tradition was purely rati...more
Among the best poems in human history.
I wrote my thesis on Milton's handling of passion in this work, using his other writings and his letters for context. Clearly I should not attempt to reproduce the argument here, but the idea is to point out that Milton changed the way we see the action of being moved by another. To be moved upon, pressed, changed, entered - to experience passion - had been condemned by great thinkers since the Greeks. The garden, in the western tradition was purely rational and held no pleasure. Eve's mistake was supposedly a logical error. Then,suddenly this misogynist poet bursts out with a full on celebration of the dialectic powered by passion. His whole cosmology is based on a dialectic where A moves B and B is moved and changed for the better, and through this change or separate from it B moves A and reproduces the cycle. It is how Adam and Eve's relationship works before the fall, it is how they interact with the garden, it is how God interacts with creation. The only place it is absent is in Satan's life, relationships, and worldview and world. Milton quite literally puts passion, and passionate sex, into the garden and even into the lives of the androgynous angels. In doing this, Milton bucks against 1500 years of a patriarchal condemnation of passion, from Augustine (and before him) to Milton's contemporaries, and despite his outright misogyny in the divorce tracts, Milton cuts a path towards conceptualizing the nature of human love relationships as a dialectic of passion between differing equals.
Read Steven Fallon's work on Milton if you disagree with my interpretation of Milton's Cosmology. For the rest, if you disagree, please- come to me.
Paradise Lost - What beauty!
...less
Read in February, 2008
Milton's use of prose and lexicon is superior. May times I found myself taken aback by his modern conceptions of one of this worlds oldest stories. Interestingly, I would say while Milton set out to explain God's reason for all that is, he instead exposed a multitude of new questions. For this I feel sorry for the man. He felt as if his world was lost, the strict protestant reign was once again coming to an end, and bawdiness and lewdness would rule society as they had in the past. This awe ins...more
Milton's use of prose and lexicon is superior. May times I found myself taken aback by his modern conceptions of one of this worlds oldest stories. Interestingly, I would say while Milton set out to explain God's reason for all that is, he instead exposed a multitude of new questions. For this I feel sorry for the man. He felt as if his world was lost, the strict protestant reign was once again coming to an end, and bawdiness and lewdness would rule society as they had in the past. This awe inspiring epic was Milton's last attempt to show England what he thought was truth, and why they should follow and obey God. Unfortunately, for those who acctually understood and could read his epic poem most did not believe he accomplished this task; even to this day people say Milton was on Satan's side and just didn't know it.
As I have said I believe Milton was a brilliant man in that his writing was far superior, and eloquent than most. Aside from this, I did find it extremely difficult as a women to read some of this story. Milton was ahead of his time in some ways of thinking, but he was still a "man" of his time. Knowing his personal history helped to excuse some of his ignorant (as I like to call it) views of women. If one were to pick up my book and flip through it they would see red all over the pages in which Milton explained a women's place, her inferiority to man. In all areas of the story Eve was explicitly excluded from anything of importance. According to Milton women is only good for sitting quietly, and being beautiful; this one good quality Eve possesses becomes her liability by the end of the poem. I could go on but ... ahhhhh... I will spare you my indignation. ...less
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Poetry readers, epics readers, classics readers, literary readers, religious readers
Normally I dislike poetry for its highly artificial language and deviations from quality storytelling, but some poets created true and undeniable beauty from the artform. Paradise Lost is such a work. It nails its subject matter, picking up after the fall of Satan, showing the first debate in the court of Hell, the original love of Adam and Eve, their fall, the new love between them once fallen, and most sweet of all, the love of Christ – it’s not a poem of original sin, but original ...more
Normally I dislike poetry for its highly artificial language and deviations from quality storytelling, but some poets created true and undeniable beauty from the artform. Paradise Lost is such a work. It nails its subject matter, picking up after the fall of Satan, showing the first debate in the court of Hell, the original love of Adam and Eve, their fall, the new love between them once fallen, and most sweet of all, the love of Christ – it’s not a poem of original sin, but original emotion. Even a non-Christian like myself should see both the literal attraction for beleivers and the allegorical meanings of the actions of these archetypes. Milton unpacks the motives of the Christian mythos’ key players (except for God, coming off strangely flimsy) with deft unrhyming rhythm, from just the love and spite that cause Satan to become the champion of evil, to why Adam would fall from grace after he's seen what Eve has done. The end is inarguably self-indulgent as Milton recaps major events from the Bible, often with phrasing no more inspired than (if not outright borrowed from) most English translations of the famous book. However the rest of the book is so well-crafted and thought-provoking that one can't hold its anti-climax against it; the true beauty of a poem like this is to re-read and pause over passages, which have their own supple climaxes, and better, their own human and moral insights....less
bookshelves:
classics,
had-to-for-college
in middle school i had seen this book lying around the house and for some reason it struck me as very impressive. i didn't ever want to read it but i wanted to give off the impression that i was the type of person who would read it. i did this with a few other books too (catcher in the rye, on the road, ect.) i carried it to school so that teachers would see it in my possession and prominently displayed it on my bedside table to let friends and family know.
after actually reading the book fo...more
in middle school i had seen this book lying around the house and for some reason it struck me as very impressive. i didn't ever want to read it but i wanted to give off the impression that i was the type of person who would read it. i did this with a few other books too (catcher in the rye, on the road, ect.) i carried it to school so that teachers would see it in my possession and prominently displayed it on my bedside table to let friends and family know.
after actually reading the book for a brit-lit class i realized how wrong my thirteen-year-old self was with the image i assumed i was portraying. most likely people realized that i was desperate for attention and for some strange reason was using john milton to get it, but on the off chance they did believe i was 'into' paradise lost, i must have seemed like a total psycho. the book is about a war waged in hell after satan's fall into the underworld. all of the descriptions are completely graphic and grotesque. i think i blocked a lot out but i do remember a female demon who is repeatedly raped by her sons immediately after giving birth to them. yuck. thank god i realized later that the best way to get attention is through cigarettes and promiscuity not literature. ...less
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like reading about the devil
Let's face it, John Milton was a closet devil-worshiper. Satan here is presented so sympathetically it's hard to think otherwise. He has the best lines, and even his actions would be laudable by most Christian standards (excepting, of course, starting a war in heaven). He never gives up, he fights for what he believes in, he's really clever, and he even pities humans for having to be his tools to get back at God. The good angels come off as such sissies and are always really smug and self-sa...more
Let's face it, John Milton was a closet devil-worshiper. Satan here is presented so sympathetically it's hard to think otherwise. He has the best lines, and even his actions would be laudable by most Christian standards (excepting, of course, starting a war in heaven). He never gives up, he fights for what he believes in, he's really clever, and he even pities humans for having to be his tools to get back at God. The good angels come off as such sissies and are always really smug and self-satisfied and say things like, "Yeah Satan, I know you're a lot better than me at everything, but remember my dad is God and if you hit me he's going to kick your ass." Gabriel and Michael are real assholes, and it makes me feel sad that Satan doesn't whip up on them some more.
This book is incredibly awesome but a litle dense. It's super sweet and kick ass but you have to sit down and really spend some time with it, and you'll have to read it pretty slow. I've never understod blank verse so I just read it like prose....less
bookshelves:
taught--hs-,
undergraduate
Read in November, 2007
When I realized this would be a part of the British and Western Literature curriculum I am teaching at this high school, I was surprised--this piece is difficult, even for college readers. Even for this reader. But it is true what they say--teaching something allows you to learn so much more about the book, helps you retain it in ways you could not retain something simply read for pleasure or even as a student. Milton was an elusive writer for me, someone I battled with, struggled to simply u...more
When I realized this would be a part of the British and Western Literature curriculum I am teaching at this high school, I was surprised--this piece is difficult, even for college readers. Even for this reader. But it is true what they say--teaching something allows you to learn so much more about the book, helps you retain it in ways you could not retain something simply read for pleasure or even as a student. Milton was an elusive writer for me, someone I battled with, struggled to simply understand what his tangle of words meant. Once I became translator, the force of the teacher in front of the lectern, great worlds opened up, and I appreciated the complexity of his Heaven and Hell explored in iambic pentameter. His Satan! What a varied character. I enjoyed this experience and though I still have doubts as to whether or not this is a good read for high schoolers (I wound up having them read the text out loud and explicating it for them), I am glad for the experience....less
bookshelves:
literature
Whatever your opinions about religion, take Milton seriously, understand his politics, and Paradise Lost will set you at war with yourself. If you can deal with that, this is the best poem ever.
"High matter thou enjoin'st me O Prime of Men,
Sad task and hard, for how shall I relate
To human sense th' invisible exploits
Of warring spirits, how without remorse
The ruin of so many glorious once
And perfect while they stood, how last unfold
The secrets of another world perhaps
Not...more
Whatever your opinions about religion, take Milton seriously, understand his politics, and Paradise Lost will set you at war with yourself. If you can deal with that, this is the best poem ever.
"High matter thou enjoin'st me O Prime of Men,
Sad task and hard, for how shall I relate
To human sense th' invisible exploits
Of warring spirits, how without remorse
The ruin of so many glorious once
And perfect while they stood, how last unfold
The secrets of another world perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? Yet for thy good
This is dispensed, and what surmounts the reach
Of human sense I shall delineate so
By lik'ning spiritual to corporal forms
As may express them best. Though what if Earth
Be but the shadow of Heav'n and things therein
Each to other like more than on Earth is thought?"(Bk V, 562-576)
come on, how wonderful is that?
this edition has the serious critical overview (stanley fish, northrop frye, dryden, pope, etc.), therefore it's the best....less
bookshelves:
advisorybook07-08
I thought that this book was really good. ALthough i am not a really religious person, I really like biblical stories sometime, especially after reading The Inferno. I really like how this book focused on how the fued between God and Satan had caused chaos and disorder on Paradise, or Earth as we know it. I would recommend it to anybody who really like biblical stories especially the story of Adam and Eve because this book really help draw deeper into the story behind how the story of Adam and E...more
I thought that this book was really good. ALthough i am not a really religious person, I really like biblical stories sometime, especially after reading The Inferno. I really like how this book focused on how the fued between God and Satan had caused chaos and disorder on Paradise, or Earth as we know it. I would recommend it to anybody who really like biblical stories especially the story of Adam and Eve because this book really help draw deeper into the story behind how the story of Adam and Eve really was. It talks about the plans of Satan and how he plans to sabatoge God's creation. He turns himself into many different identities to stir up chao. One of which was the infamous snake, which tempted Adam to eat an apple off of the Forbidden Tree. Overall, this book was really good. (Over 500 pages)...less
Read in January, 2005
As Dante's Divine Comedy is considered the greatest poem of the Italian language, I consider Paradise Lost to be one of the greatest works of English literature. There is an inexplicable sense of the sublime when reading a work of someone who completely commands a language. The cosmology of the universe as imagined by Milton is breath-taking, especially considering 17th century people didn't have a collective consciousness of the universe as we do with cinematic special effects and NASA photo ga...more
As Dante's Divine Comedy is considered the greatest poem of the Italian language, I consider Paradise Lost to be one of the greatest works of English literature. There is an inexplicable sense of the sublime when reading a work of someone who completely commands a language. The cosmology of the universe as imagined by Milton is breath-taking, especially considering 17th century people didn't have a collective consciousness of the universe as we do with cinematic special effects and NASA photo galleries. My only recommendation is for readers to acquaint themselves with Greek mythology and Genesis before tackling Paradise Lost. The parallel between Milton's political life and the idea of a Romantic Satan's lost cause of storming heaven warrants another discussion....less
bookshelves:
classics
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Jillian by:
oh it's a classic-I always feel like I have to read these for so
recommends it for:
people who like homework:P
Ok, FORCED myself to get through the book on tape. I still hate it and agree that the devil is definitely the hero-which really doesn't bother me, it's how repetitive the message is pounded in that irritates me. Holy crap, I get it, I get it...
I'm not a fan of this or the Inferno. I don't know-maybe I'm not smart enough for these but they seriously could use some translation-that's the only way I made it through the Art of War for example. I try to read the classics but unless they are ab...more
Ok, FORCED myself to get through the book on tape. I still hate it and agree that the devil is definitely the hero-which really doesn't bother me, it's how repetitive the message is pounded in that irritates me. Holy crap, I get it, I get it...
I'm not a fan of this or the Inferno. I don't know-maybe I'm not smart enough for these but they seriously could use some translation-that's the only way I made it through the Art of War for example. I try to read the classics but unless they are abridged and translated I can't get through a lot of them now. I just lost the desire.
There are so many great contemporary books with similar messages that can be found in classics. Modern day classics I guess are the ones I like best. But hey-I try! ...less
dear lord was this thing HARD to get through. however, it borders on more fun than dante's inferno. why? because satan isn't a huge let down and kinda lame...like the inferno...chewing on judas...what? not very intimidating.
luckily, satan holds paradise lost together. he's amazingly complicated, extremely emo, and ready to mess up everything. god, on the other hand, dull, omnipotent, snoooooooze. milton's poetry is the hardest difficulty, yet brilliantly composed. just be patient, an...more
dear lord was this thing HARD to get through. however, it borders on more fun than dante's inferno. why? because satan isn't a huge let down and kinda lame...like the inferno...chewing on judas...what? not very intimidating.
luckily, satan holds paradise lost together. he's amazingly complicated, extremely emo, and ready to mess up everything. god, on the other hand, dull, omnipotent, snoooooooze. milton's poetry is the hardest difficulty, yet brilliantly composed. just be patient, and root for the bad guy.
also, anyone who just decides to rewrite one of the most well known stories in the bible, makes satan the identifiable one, and turns it into an epic action packed story...is kinda badass....less
Read in November, 2002
I have no religious background. It was Milton that got me asking all the big questions. I remember getting into this long debate with my Dad in 12th grade after I read Book 9 (the Fall) about why God wanted us to be ignorant. And then I understood that God’s greatest gift to man was that of free will (at least in Milton’s POV). And I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Beautiful imagery of light and darkness. Brilliant narrative technique of telling the story directly after the ...more
I have no religious background. It was Milton that got me asking all the big questions. I remember getting into this long debate with my Dad in 12th grade after I read Book 9 (the Fall) about why God wanted us to be ignorant. And then I understood that God’s greatest gift to man was that of free will (at least in Milton’s POV). And I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Beautiful imagery of light and darkness. Brilliant narrative technique of telling the story directly after the war in Heaven. Satan starts out as a victim, as a sexy rebel. Milton really forces his audience to earn their respect for God and to discover for themselves exactly why Satan is evil. ...less
Read in May, 2008
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n...
In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man.
Written when Milton was in his fifties - blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution - ...more
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n...
In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man.
Written when Milton was in his fifties - blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution - Paradise Lost's apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to 'justify the ways of God to men' or exposes the cruelty of Christianity....less
When I was in undergrad, I actually wanted to be a Milton scholar... We won't get into why I changed tack here. "Lycidas" is still the most beautiful poem--Ever.
"Paradise Lost" is what epic poetry is meant to be. It's influenced our society more than most people realize. It was Milton who first characterized the "Forbidden Fruit" as an apple; who first coined the term "All Hell broke loose"--when the demons are wreaking havoc in Pandemonium, and ...more
When I was in undergrad, I actually wanted to be a Milton scholar... We won't get into why I changed tack here. "Lycidas" is still the most beautiful poem--Ever.
"Paradise Lost" is what epic poetry is meant to be. It's influenced our society more than most people realize. It was Milton who first characterized the "Forbidden Fruit" as an apple; who first coined the term "All Hell broke loose"--when the demons are wreaking havoc in Pandemonium, and my favorite, when he says that Adam is "stupidly good." Maybe that last one hasn't influenced our society, but Milton's characterizations of Adam and Eve have helped me personally in male/female relationships.
...less
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Rachel by:
Sean
I read this book because my brother in law Sean said that it was his favorite book. I hadn't even heard of it before that. It definitely wasn't a fast read but it was interesting. I thought his view of Satan was really different. I've never thought of Satan as caring about anyone but himself, but Milton shows him as caring about his fellow devils and having inner stuggles about destroying Adam and Eve. I think the thing that turns Satan into such a hero is Milton's lack of understanding tha...more
I read this book because my brother in law Sean said that it was his favorite book. I hadn't even heard of it before that. It definitely wasn't a fast read but it was interesting. I thought his view of Satan was really different. I've never thought of Satan as caring about anyone but himself, but Milton shows him as caring about his fellow devils and having inner stuggles about destroying Adam and Eve. I think the thing that turns Satan into such a hero is Milton's lack of understanding that the sprits in heaven are the same spirits that come to earth. That's what I believe anyway. With that idea missing, Satan's motives for rebellion don't make a lot of sense. ...less
book data (includes all editions)
avg rating
(all editions):
3.87 (3708 ratings)
avg rating
(this edition): 3.83
(2988 ratings)
number of reviews: 278
other editions
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Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Editions)
isbn: 0393924289
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Paradise Lost: An Authoritative Text
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