Status Updates From El Paraíso Perdido

I am so confused.. we have just been created, yet we have already been seduced and sinned, Lucifer hasn't even reached us yet. And already the son will be sent? Plus that before there was already talk of other gods. If he has the entire plot and script already, then what's the fecking use.
Internet says it's pro god... but for now I am really not seeing any good god

This reading old epics stuff lowk easy 🤔

"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n" yeah okay bud 👍

Michael I know you and THE big G thought you were doing something with condemning our dear lucifer to hell and all but hes like really jolly over there 😭

i love Eve’s arrival into the world.

Of three that in Mount Ida naked strobe,
Stood to entertain her guest from Heav'n; no veile
Shee needed, Vertue-proof, no thought infirme
Altered her cheek. On whom the Angel 'Haile'
Bestowed, the holy salitation us'd
Long after to blest Marie, second Eve.

Love that second eve allusion, also just really enjoying Milton's peek into unfallen femininity

I’M SO CLOSE (also Book 7 and the end of Book 8 were awesome)

I really didn’t like book 6 — but that’s only because it was all battle scenes and I never have any interest in them😭

But I’m officially halfway there!

“Ten thousand banners rise into the air
With orient colours waving: with them rose
A forest huge of spears” I, 545-7

“Signs of remorse and passion to behold
The fellows of his crime, the followers rather
(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned
Forever now to have their lot in pain,
…For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,
Their glory withered.” I, 605-12

It’s a marathon to finish this poem (arguably book) in a week

Satan’s monologues in Book 4 are so deliciously emo. Good stuff.

“Through God’s high sufferance for the trial of man,
By falsities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their creator…” I, 366-9

“…but in what shape they choose
Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,
Can execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.” I, 428-31

Finished Book 1!

“That with sad overthrow and foul defeat
Hath lost us heaven…” I, 135-6

“To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight” I, 159-60

“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven” I, 253-4

“Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven” I, 263

Definitely the easiest epic I’ve read for the early modern period. Curious to see how the plot develops

✒"Which way I fly is hell - myself am hell -
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threatening to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

“…what in me is dark
Illumine…” I, 22-3

“Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell” I, 45-7

“All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what else is to be overcome?” I, 106-9

Book 2. In giving Sin the key to Hell, God seems to implicitly encourage Satan’s escape and therefore the temptation and fall of humanity. This presents a paradigm - if God is all-powerful, then nothing can happen against his will, but many evil things do happen, so God must at least allow this evil or plan for it.
Hell is continuously presented as a mirror to heaven, complete with Satan's authoritative rule.

I've just finished book 1 (of 12). I'm unabashedly excited to see where this goes - the setup, structure, and prose are emulating the Aeneid wherever/whenever possible. The two points Milton has really strived to make are 1. It's better to reign in hell than serve in heaven (bars) 2. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. More on that later ;)

It's a much shorter poem than you might think. Here ends the poem; the rest is Bible excerpts, religious essays Milton wrote, others' essays ABOUT the poem... I'm just reading the poem.

"...the rest, far greater part/
Will deem in outward rites and specious forms/
Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire/
Bestuck with sland'rous darts, and works of faith/
Rarely be found."

Well, good thing Michael/Milton warned us of that, and we avoided false faith and "Christians" in name only...

[Of Earth] "Terrestrial heav'n, danced round by other heav'n/ ... With what delight I could have walked thee round/ If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange/ of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains/ Now land, now sea, and shores with forest crowned/ Rocks, dens, and caves; but I in none of these/ Find place or refuge; and the more I see/ Pleasures about me, so much the more I feel/ Torment within me..."

progress

Figured out the mode to read this in. Each line an image, but they flow and merge together. It's rhythmic.

Satan laments his fall:
“Which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell, myself am Hell,
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threat’ning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav’n.
O then at last relent! Is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
None left but by submission and that word
Disdain forbids me and my dread of shame

I feel my brain expanding

Books V and VI. The war in heaven, Iliad-esque. Jesus flexes on the divine chariot. Satan and pals choose the abyss over the wrath of God

crazy work

Were this a story, you would have the rebelling side of the fallen angels at least be able to put up a fight, if not appear close to winning before ultimately losing. But as it is, where the lowest ranks of faithful angels are able beat Satan's closest lieutenants (because Heaven's side cannot even be seen to struggle, I assume), it feels so one-sided as to be barely worth calling a "war."

SO CLOSE TO THE END MILTON PLEASE I BEG WRAP THIS UPPPP

time to banish this book to my eternal reading later pile, we only needed to read book 1 and 2 for uni and I got another one to read for next week lol

i LOVED book 3 but was so unbelievably distracted through book 4 😓