Did You Find Paradise Lost Hard to Read?

[astrum]

Did you find John Milton's "Paradise Lost" hard to read?

[MorpheusSandman]

Only sometimes. If you're familiar with Early Modern English via, eg, Shakespeare; and if you're able to untangle long, complex, twisty syntactical structures via, eg, Donne; then that accounts for a majority of the "difficult" aspects of PL. More than anything it just takes an ability to sink into Milton's utterly unique rhythms and language. Once you do, there's nothing else like it in English lit.

[hannah_arendt]

I don`t find it very difficult to read. There are some words which aren`t used today but it is a very interesting experience.

[Bleeding Pawn]

I remember picking up a book from the local library ( Paradise Lost), the attractive front cover, in pure white, like an angel in flight, do not know what tempted me to borrow that book (maybe it was the cover or the title or maybe it went way above my understanding since I was almost 11 at that time. I found it was not a good read, as far as I can recall and was more into Shakespeare and Iliad, think if i had read that book at a later stage , I might have found it interesting.

[hannah_arendt]

Recently I`ve been forced to read it again but I don`t regret. Thren I started reading "Paradise regained".

[astrum]

I love "Paradise Regained." I like it almost as much, and sometimes more, than "Paradise Lost."


I feel as if it's been somewhat neglected (at least in comparison to "Paradise Lost").

[Bleeding Pawn]

Recently I`ve been forced to read it again but I don`t regret. Then I started reading "Paradise regained".

How did you like? What difference you felt when compared to the first book and your first read??

[astrum]

On another forum, I saw the following advice about comprehending PL:

If you try to understand the book word by word, you will get lost. It took me like 100 pages to realize that. But if you read the book like a poem--which it is; an epic poem--by looking beyond the mere words, you will start to understand it and see its beauty. Instead of being caught up in the words themselves, look more toward the image that is being created. The energy behind each line of text. From there, you will see more than you ever could if you went by word by word. You eyes will still pass over each word but you will no longer become inundated and fatigued, once you start focusing instead on the deeper image and meaning that Milton is effectively conveying.

Seems like solid advice.

[Charles Darnay]

One day I will read Paradise Regained....if I ever come across a physical copy (or a digital one that doesn't butcher line breaks). I love Milton, and Paradise Lost can be dense - but when broken down, it is not hard.

[astrum]

Charles Darnay,

You can listen to the audio version of "Paradise Regained" on LibriVox/YouTube.

See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xUcm7TfPb8

[hannah_arendt]

How did you like? What difference you felt when compared to the first book and your first read??

Recently It has seemed not to be boring. I ma older now so I look at it in a different way. I pay more attention to ways of expression and linguistic elements. What`s more i think that it sounds much better in english than in translation. At studies, I had to read it in polish .

[MorpheusSandman]

How did you like? What difference you felt when compared to the first book and your first read??

You weren't asking me, but I'll answer anyway: PR is a much simpler, plainer, less complex, less ambiguous, less profound work. I've often said that it proved that Milton could write simply and elegantly if he wanted to. It's neglected because it lacks all of the intricacies and controversies (linguistic, literary, national, sexual, poetic, mythical, theological, philosophical, etc.) of PL; there's simply less for a critic to write about and less for other poets to borrow from. It's not a text like PL where you can immerse yourself in it, or read dozens of times and get something new out of it. All that said, it's still a superb work, with perhaps its only flaw being that it's too perfect. I actually think of Milton's late works, Samson Agonistes is more interesting than PR. Though one thing I find interesting about PR is its "novela epic" format. I don't know of any precedent for crafting an epic-like narrative in 4 books...

[MorpheusSandman]

One day I will read Paradise Regained....if I ever come across a physical copy (or a digital one that doesn't butcher line breaks).

I read it here; they have a Kindle version, but I haven't tried it.

[astrum]

"Paradise Regained" reminded me of one of Milton's other notable works: "Comus."


"Comus" is remarkable as well. All three poems discuss the matter of resisting temptation.

[Bleeding Pawn]

You weren't asking me, but I'll answer anyway: PR is a much simpler, plainer, less complex, less ambiguous, less profound work. I've often said that it proved that Milton could write simply and elegantly if he wanted to. It's neglected because it lacks all of the intricacies and controversies (linguistic, literary, national, sexual, poetic, mythical, theological, philosophical, etc.) of PL; there's simply less for a critic to write about and less for other poets to borrow from. It's not a text like PL where you can immerse yourself in it, or read dozens of times and get something new out of it. All that said, it's still a superb work, with perhaps its only flaw being that it's too perfect. I actually think of Milton's late works, Samson Agonistes is more interesting than PR. Though one thing I find interesting about PR is its "novela epic" format. I don't know of any precedent for crafting an epic-like narrative in 4 books...

I`ve never read it though (PR) but I can`t resist asking this from someone ( it might be off-topic). What`s your take on Divine Comedy? not from the literary angle but if we break it into several pieces and judge it from an historic point of view.