About this title: Milton takes the traditional epic and transforms it with the clarity of his moral vision and with the power of his language, turning it into triumphant blank verse--seldom used in his day except in drama--that is moving, exciting, and full of the grandeur of Milton's poetic vision. In the early parts of "Paradise Lost", he manages to convey sympathy with Satan's heroic energy. As the epic narrative progresses, however, our allegiance shifts subtly to Christ's message of love and a vision of Paradise free of Satan's destructive strivings.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Mentor, United States
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780451628268ISBN:0451628268
Description: Good. No Jacket. Good. No Jacket Textbook. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Heavily margin noted throughout selected passages of text. Text, very highly readable. Underscored on numerous pages. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1961
ISBN-13:9780451628268ISBN:0451628268
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Wear to edges of soft ocver. Page tanning from age. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 416 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: New American Library
Date Published: 1961
Description: Good. -8th Printing--414 pgs. Interior-Nice overall condition. The paperback cover has light signs of use. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Signet
Date Published: 1961
ISBN-13:9780451628268ISBN:0451628268
Description: Good. Moderate cover wear with scuffing to edges and creasing on spine. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Very good condition, paperback. Very slight wear along cover edge and corners, inside covers/pages moderately tanned. Clean and tight. 0451628268. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1961
ISBN-13:9780451628268ISBN:0451628268
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. No marks on pages. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 416 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. 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 as Adam 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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