About this title: This is the second edition of the "Norton Critical Edition" of Milton's "Paradise Lost". It represents an extensive revision of the first edition. The text of the poem remains that of Milton's 1674 edition, retaining the original punctuation but with modernized spelling and italics. Material for the study of contemporary religious and political issues is now included, as well as selections from his earlier poetry and prose.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: 4th printing.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co, New York
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780393092301ISBN:0393092305
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Attractive, near fine. Uncreased spine, tight, light exterior wear. Text clean, unmarked. Glued binding. 546 p. Norton Critical Editions. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780393092301ISBN:0393092305
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 546 p. Norton Critical Editions. Audience: General/trade. Overall good some underlining. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (Np)
Date Published: 1980-06-30
ISBN-13:9780393092301ISBN:0393092305
Description: Good. Shows wear on extremities to include tear on outside spine and spine break in center of book, highlighting and notes, otherwise, good readable copy. read more
Edition: 2nd
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 1992-12
ISBN-13:9780393962932ISBN:0393962938
Description: Very Good in None jacket. Almost like new 2nd edition paperback. Fresh and clean with no markings. Light cover wear only. Tight square binding with no spine creases. 1993 W. W. Norton & Company, New York. ix + 685 pages including bibliography. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 1992-12
ISBN-13:9780393962932ISBN:0393962938
Description: Very Good. Text is clean and unmarked. has name on title page and back end page. From the shelves of my store. Light shelf wear. Great book for a reasonable and competitive price. Buy risk free and enjoy. I will ship promptly in a bubble wrap mailer. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, New York
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780393044065ISBN:0393044068
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. A Very Good Copy In Very Good Dust Jacket. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 546 p. Norton Critical Edition. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780393962932ISBN:0393962938
Description: Good. NOTATIONS THROUGHOUT BOOK, PAGES ARE LIGHTLY TANNED, THIS BOOK IS ROUGH. IT IS OK FOR PERSONAL USE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE SOME MONEY BUT DO NOT GIVE AS A GIFT. Clean, nice condition, good reading copy. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
Description: Good. Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices. read more
"PL is the pinnacle of English Literature, bar none. Every great work that has come since owes some of its literary heritage to Milton. Here's a short list of people who have raved about it: - Wordsworth - Shelley - John Adams - Thomas Jefferson - T.S. Eliot (as a young man complaining, as an older man conceding) - C.S. Lewis
I studied it at length in college and am re-reading it now as I sit in on the Milton class at BYU. I had forgotten how magnificent and moving it is. Milton writes with the passion, beauty, and love of nature of the Romantics, while maintaining the steadiness, rhythm, complexity, and depth of the Renaissance (esp. the metaphysical poets). He managed to do all that and still miss the goofy rhymed couplets that were all the rage with the Classicists.
Listen to these perfect lines of iambic pentameter:
"They also serve who only stand and wait."
"The serpent me beguiled and I did eat."
And this: "What is dark in me illumine, What is low, raise and support."
I love Shakespeare and Donne, Bronte, Austen, Steinbeck, Nabokov, Tolstoy, and lately, Rowling, but nobody holds a candle to Milton--okay, Shakespeare holds a candle, but it's a birthday candle--a small one.
Thank you, Milton. I was going to name a son after you, but then I kept having daughters! Someday, we will sit down together in heaven and have a LONG conversation, and I'll finally get to ask, "Why did you have to make it so FREAKING HARD!""
"In the beginning, there was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Some time after that, there was John Milton. He took the written word, already beautiful in itself, and set it to the music of verse.
Paradise Lost is a poetic exegesis of the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. In it, Milton recounts the story of the two falls that marred the beauty of God's creation. First, the fall of Satan and his demons. Second the fall of Adam and Eve from sinless perfection. Woven into the story are a number of threads that enhance both the beauty of the story and our understanding of it: the war in heaven and subsequent expulsion of Satan and his demons, the creation of the heavens and earth, the creation of Adam and Eve, their temptation and fall, and the promise of redemption. The major elements of the story come directly from Scripture. He fleshes them out with details that are imagined, but certainly not inconsistent with the Bible. Milton's was a redeemed imagination on the order of Dante, and somehow he was able to reflect some of the glory that might have been when our first parents walked naked and unashamed through the garden. His descriptions of Heaven, Eden, and the sinless state of Adam and Eve have inspired countless authors who have imitated and borrowed from him over the centuries.
Like all great works of literature, Paradise Lost is brilliant in its scope and execution. It was executed by a poet of the highest order, who was also an accomplished theologian. Milton chose as his models the great epic poems of antiquity with the intent of creating the first epic poem in the english language. For a lesser poet to aspire to such a lofty goal might be hubris. Milton not only aspired to it, he succeeded and in so doing established himself as one of the greatest poets of all time. The aesthetic excellence of this work is beyond question. Critics have praised it since its first publication. That he accomplished this feat while blind is hardly to be believed. To conceive of a poem on the scale of Paradise Lost, to organize one's thoughts, to recite, listen, edit, and complete this masterpiece required a strength and stamina that only comes with genius that has been cultivated over a lifetime.
Milton is one of the giants of literature on whose shoulders many have since stood.
Having said all of this, I must confess that there are a few things that I don't understand about PL. First is the reaction of those who claim that Satan is somehow either the hero or the most interesting character. From the beginning, it is clear that Satan is a hero only to himself and his sycophantic demons. He lies to everyone, including himself. Even the famous line about it being better to reign in Hell than rule in Heaven is a lie, since no one really reigns in Hell. Satan is as much God's subject in Hell as he was before his fall. His self-aggrandizing speeches have no foundation in reality. There is no question of his ability to mount a successful rebellion against God, as it does not exist. He and his demons were kept at bay by angels during the war in heaven, then easily dispatched to Hell by Christ, the second person of the Trinity. There is nothing noble about Satan, his lies, his delusions, or his successful attack on man. It takes an intentional mis-reading of the text to glean any admirable quality from Satan.
The second is the reaction of many toward Eve. I have heard Milton referred to as a misogynist, and seen PL used as evidence. Again, it seems to be a deliberate mis-reading of the text. Prior to the fall, Eve is as noble in every way. They have different, complimentary attributes, and are each perfectly suited to the roles for which they were created: Adam for dominion of the world, Eve for its domestication. It is not until after the fall that Eve is presented as inferior to Adam, and that comes primarily from Adam, who is now fallen, and cannot be trusted to speak truth. Yes, there is the discourse between Adam and Raphael wherein Adam speaks of Eve in a somewhat derogatory fashion. But even here, Adam is using hyperbole, and is rebuked by the angel for going too far. This also occurs after Satan has infiltrated creation and made his presence felt.
The Norton Critical Edition is wonderful. Mr. Teskey's introduction, explanatory notes, and supplementary reading material are quite helpful in understanding Milton's poem. I highly recommend this edition to anyone interested in exploring Milton's epic."
"Milton is an absolute genius. The thought that he put into the creation of this book is absolutely astounding. Of course, it has it's bad stories too, not every writer beats his daughters if the story doesn't sound right to him. But with that ignored for the sake of sanity, I love paradise lost."
"OVERRATED!!! I mean, this "poem" doesn't even rhyme. And, also, I compare it to the movie 'Titanic' because you probably already know what happens in the end. If you don't, let me tell you, she eats it. Why, if Milton is SOOO smart, couldn't he come up with an original story? Sure there is a lot of blood and sex and excrement, but it's not very well done. If you want a writer who KNOWS how to do that stuff, I suggest Chuck Palahniuk. The book does have lots of nudity, though. And the innocent 'girl next door' getting corrupted thing is ok. But I think you could have gotten the same results without Adam, he just seems superfluous."
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