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  • Cynewulf
    Jun 22 3:15 PM
    Reply
    I have been re-reading Milton's epic recently. Has anyone read it? I know it is the longest poem in the English language & goes on a bit. It also has some of the greatest quotes in the language,& probably the best example of 'epanadiplosis' (iv 641-56) notwithstanding that latinate word order!
    From page one it takes 38 words before he reaches the main (imperative) verb!

    Love it or hate it?

  • Cynewulf
    June 24
    Reply

    What?

    Oh come on.......NOBODY HAS READ PL?......There was a great article on Milton in The New Yorker (Online) the other week.
    Someone must have read PL it outside of England.

  • Cynewulf
    June 30
    Reply

    To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell then serve in Heaven.

    What, nobody has read Paradise fucking Lost all the way through? I just can't accept it. I am trying to re-read it. Has anyone got any views on it as a poem? How about its religious connotations?

    • ea
      June 30
      Reply
      It has nice illustrations by Blake.

      • Cynewulf
        June 30
        Reply

        Blakey blakey burning bright

        Yeah, I forgot about that. Didn't Blake say that Milton was of Satan's party but didn't know it or something like that? This from a guy who saw angels in Clapham!

  • hiraeth
    July 11
    Reply
    I've just begun reading it, actually.

    • Cynewulf
      July 11
      Reply
      How far have you got?

      • hiraeth
        July 11
        Reply
        ...the second page
        I mean to finish by summer's end, though.

        • Cynewulf
          July 11
          Reply
          Ok, I got to page 140 on my re-read, then a lot of other things turned up. But I will persevere. Which edition have you got?

          • hiraeth
            July 11
            Reply
            I'm not quite sure; I have a textbook from my English Renaissance Writers class I took last semester. It's a Norton Anthology that has some of Paradise Lost. Are there any editions you recommend?

            • Cynewulf
              July 12
              Reply

              editions

              To be honest you can buy the whole thing relatively cheaply in paperback. The Penguin Popular Classics is very cheap around £1.25 & the Wordsworth Poetry Library's 'The Works of John Milton' contains 'Paradise Regained' & 'Samson Agonistes'. The Penguin copy mentioned earlier has no introductory preface (the more expensive Penguin paperback version does) but is excellently annotated.

              It would be interesting to know which parts of the poem you have. Are there any pieces you particularly like?

              I think it has some beautiful language, I don't think you have to be religious or anti-religious to appreciate it as a poem, nor the effect it has had on English literature.

              Much of the language he employs is understandable, yet there are some archaic terms which often need recourse to a dictionary of some sort or a good glossary!

            • Cynewulf
              July 12
              Reply

              You may like this

              Paradise Lost

              Book I Satan is from heaven cast,
              Book II Plans from Hell his counter – blast,
              Book III Seeks a human to entice,
              Book IV Spots a pair in Paradise.
              Book V Raphael, sent to blow the whistle,
              Book VI Paints in flashback the dismissal,
              Book VII Tells how God made Man and matter.
              Book VIII Adam and the angel chatter.
              Book IX Satan’s apple conquers Eve.
              Book X God invites the pair to leave.
              Book XI Angel Michael clears the garden,
              Book XII Gives a hint of long-term pardon.

              Noel Petty, How to be Well Versed in Poetry, Penguin (Ed E.O. Parrott)

              When I first saw this, not only did I find it extremely funny, I realised it is an excellent way to remember what is happening sometimes in what is the longest narrative poem in English literature.

              I think Noel Petty has helped a lot of students with this!

  • Calanthe
    July 12
    Reply
    I have read it.

    • Cynewulf
      July 12
      Reply
      So which is your favourite part? I have an excellent way of remembering what happens in the poem. It is a 12 line poem by Noel Petty, each line of the poem sums up the plot, albeit humorously. I will share it with you if you like.

      • Calanthe
        July 12
        Reply
        I've just read the Noel Petty poem.

        I don't really have a favourite part, but the beginning sticks in my memory, as does the "farewell, happy fields" section. I have only read it once, and quite quickly, too, so I don't know it very well. I read it because we were studying Frankenstein, so I know more about the links between the two than the epic poem itself.

      • ea
        July 12
        Reply
        I like Noel Petty's Cliff Notes . My kinda guy. Thanks for the heads up.

        • Cynewulf
          July 12
          Reply

          Heath-Cliff

          Are they like Macmillan Master Guides?

  • Cynewulf
    July 12
    Reply
    OK, you have been studying some deep stuff there. Yes, that's a great idea for a thread or sub thread, what are the links between the two influential works?

  • Interfused
    July 22
    Reply

    University made me do it

    yo had to study it for my english course.....yeah was fairly awesome.....especially like how Satan is glorified in the first and second books in particular, then undercut by milton. in a room full of students witha really enthusiastic teacher it almost made me laugh....then i remembered it was literature and not seinfeld or monty python. then i laughed at those in my head

    The End.

    • Cynewulf
      July 22
      Reply

      Sympathy for the Devil

      Well, I like it anyway.
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