Paradise Lost

[Yulehesays]

How accessible/difficult is it?

Also, is it worth reading the free kindle version or should I pay?

[MorpheusSandman]

If you're familiar with Early Modern English via Shakespeare, then you shouldn't struggle too much with it. Like Shakespeare, there are plenty of unfamiliar (to modern readers) words that need glossing/footnoting. What's more difficult is Milton's syntax, which is extremely elastic with lots of word order inversions, and really elongated sentences which often withhold, eg, the verb until many lines into it. You have to consider, Milton was trying to prove you could write an epic in blank verse, a form usually reserved for the lower, more earthly realm of drama/theater, and the only way he knew to compensate was to do some wacky things with syntax and diction. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, there's nothing else like it in the English language. It just has its own utterly unique rhythm, sound, and feel to it.

I don't know what Kindle version you're referring to. If it's free it's probably just the text without footnotes or glosses (although there are a few free versions of older scholarly texts, like the EH Coleridge editions of Byron and ST Coleridge), and you really need those footnotes and glosses for the words/references you won't understand during an initial read-through. I'd say download it and see if it's indeed an older scholarly edition, or if it's just the plain text. If it's the latter, I wouldn't bother. There actually is one such glossed/footnoted free version online here. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_1/index.shtml) I haven't read it, but their editions of the poems I have read are quite good/solid.

There are a few Kindle Editions of respectable paperback editions. One is of the Kastan Paradise Lost (http://www.amazon.com/John-Milton-Paradise-Lost-ebook/dp/B0042JSMDW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1376784074&sr=8-6&keywords=milton+john+kindle) edition, another is the Modern Library's Complete Poetry of Milton (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Poetry-Essential-Library-ebook/dp/B006FYBCF2/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1376784074&sr=8-15&keywords=milton+john+kindle). I actually first read PL and all of Milton through that Modern Library edition, and if the kindle is the same as the printed edition, and is well-formatted, it would be a safe bet; though it's a bit more expensive obviously.

[Gladys]

Best to read Paradise Lost with footnotes unless your knowledge of the Bible is encyclopaedic. The internet has on-line versions with footnotes, if you read on a tablet.

Reading on my Nook eReader, I would make extensive use of Aard Dictionaries to access Wikipedia off-line.

[LitNetIsGreat]

How accessible or difficult is it? Is it worth reading the free version or should you pay?

Well that somewhat depends on you. Though there is nothing wrong with getting the free version or getting a decent one with notes or both or more! I've got four copies of it. I think the free version on Kindle is fine having downloaded that and looked at it. Though it is probably worthwhile getting a decent copy with notes and giving it the time investment it deserves, that's the main thing, that and just getting on and reading it.

[JBI]

How accessible or difficult is it? Is it worth reading the free version or should you pay?

Well that somewhat depends on you. Though there is nothing wrong with getting the free version or getting a decent one with notes or both or more! I've got four copies of it. I think the free version on Kindle is fine having downloaded that and looked at it. Though it is probably worthwhile getting a decent copy with notes and giving it the time investment it deserves, that's the main thing, that and just getting on and reading it.


Depends really on approach. Is there no public domain annotated Milton? Either way I always tend to go for the most annotated versions. The problem is English Annotation is rather lacking in the public domain, and the kindle is still a pain to use.

[astrum]

Two suggestions:

I really like the Riverside Milton's footnotes. The only caveat is that its spelling can be distracting. During Milton's time, spelling was very fluid, which the Riverside Milton reflects. The Merritt Hughes version has modernized spelling--though its footnotes aren't as thorough.


Consider reading "Paradise Lost" while listening to the audiobook. There's just something about hearing it as you read, which greatly boosts comprehension. Here's a link to the audiobook, which btw is free: http://librivox.org/paradise-lost-by-john-milton/

[MorpheusSandman]

Is there no public domain annotated Milton?Dartmouth has an online Milton that's fairly well annotated: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_1/index.shtml


kindle is still a pain to use.It's gotten much, much better than when I bought my first one a few years ago. I returned it, but since then I've bought and iPad and regularly use its Kindle app.

[Lokasenna]

The Dartmouth online version is the one I usually suggest to people who want to read it and haven't got a well grounded knowledge of biblical and classical know-how.

It should not give you any trouble linguistically - it is, after all, modern English, and quite possibly some of the finest modern English ever written. Almost no author compares with Milton's understanding of and feel for the English language. So do read it - it is a superb work!

[Nate]

and that is a superb hat

[Lokasenna]

and that is a superb hat

Why, thank you!

[mal4mac]

I always tend to go for the least annotated version, I prefer reading the author rather than a mountain of dusty scholarship. I looked long and hard for a version with just enough annotation, and the "Oxford Classics" was my choice. Still didn't make it very far, though. Some authors just don't click! I do wonder if anyone reads Milton through sheer enjoyment of reading the classics. Was everyone in this thread forced to read it first time? Would you have read it by choice? For those who like it, how did you get to like it? Does it get a lot better as you read on? I've read almost all of Shakespeare's plays, some several times, and loved him from the get go, but Milton just seems dull & obscure to me.

[MorpheusSandman]

I do wonder if anyone reads Milton through sheer enjoyment of reading the classics. Was everyone in this thread forced to read it first time? Would you have read it by choice? For those who like it, how did you get to like it? Does it get a lot better as you read on? I've read almost all of Shakespeare's plays, some several times, and loved him from the get go, but Milton just seems dull & obscure to me.I "encountered" Milton through Neil Gaiman's Sandman. In Vol. 4 Sandman visits Satan and finds out that Satan's "moving out" of hell and putting the "property" up for sale. I don't remember how I found out, but something/someone mentioned that entire volume was inspired by Paradise Lost, so that's what lead me to reading Milton. This was probably about 5 years ago and my knowledge/experience with poetry from that era was pretty nil, so Milton was really my first conscious, intentional experience with early poetry; so I certainly read it by choice.

How did I come to like it? That's a tricky question... I think there was a point in reading it, even though I was a bit lost as to the exact meaning of what was being said, that I realized that I'd never experienced language used like that before. It was perhaps my first conscious realization that the experience of language could have an aesthetic affect similar to music, where you don't have to, eg, comprehend everything technical that's going on in a symphony to feel something emotionally and intuitively. Reading Milton I felt something emotional and intuitive just through how the language felt to me when reading it. Now, later on I reread it and understood it a lot better, and reading the footnotes enlightened me to much of what I missed regarding the allusions and various social/cultural contexts. But I think reading Milton and only being concerned with "the meaning" is missing much of the point; nobody wrote English and blank-verse like Milton, and part of the pleasure of reading him is in enjoying that language as an aesthetic experience in and of itself. Of course there's plenty of intellectual substance to dig into afterwards, but, as Kubrick said, art (well, he said film; but I think it's true of all art) should be more a progression of moods and feelings, and the meaning or what's behind all of those moods comes later.

[WoodMarc]

I found it quite easy, not at all as daunting as I was expecting. Much easier read than, say, Shakespeare.

[Yulehesays]

It was perhaps my first conscious realization that the experience of language could have an aesthetic affect similar to music, where you don't have to, eg, comprehend everything technical that's going on in a symphony to feel something emotionally and intuitively. Reading Milton I felt something emotional and intuitive just through how the language felt to me when reading it. Now, later on I reread it and understood it a lot better, and reading the footnotes enlightened me to much of what I missed regarding the allusions and various social/cultural contexts. But I think reading Milton and only being concerned with "the meaning" is missing much of the point; nobody wrote English and blank-verse like Milton, and part of the pleasure of reading him is in enjoying that language as an aesthetic experience in and of itself. Of course there's plenty of intellectual substance to dig into afterwards, but, as Kubrick said, art (well, he said film; but I think it's true of all art) should be more a progression of moods and feelings, and the meaning or what's behind all of those moods comes later.

That's how I feel about Finnegans Wake

[mal4mac]

The dartmouth version, at first glance, seems to be of the "too scholarly" variety, at least, for a first read. Take the second note, does the average reader really want to know that the "locution" of "Death into the World, and all our woe" "echoes fairly closely Virgil's narrative voice in Aeneid book 4, announcing that death and woe followed the ersatz nuptials of Aeneas and Dido"? Compare it to the Oxford Classics version, which doesn't rattle on about Virgil:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paradise-Lost-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199535744

[MorpheusSandman]

That's how I feel about Finnegans WakeOh, that description certainly applies to Joyce, but there is still an aesthetic difference between blank verse and highly poetic prose.


The dartmouth version, at first glance, seems to be of the "too scholarly" variety, at least, for a first read. Take the second note, does the average reader really want to know that the "locution" of "Death into the World, and all our woe" "echoes fairly closely Virgil's narrative voice in Aeneid book 4, announcing that death and woe followed the ersatz nuptials of Aeneas and Dido"? I think asking what the "average reader" wants is a fool's endeavor because most "average readers" aren't reading Paradise Lost to begin with. Asking what a first time PL reader would want to know is quite different, as I'm guessing that most reading it are going to be interested in poetry or classic literature, and if you're interested in those things then, yeah, you'd probably want to know that Milton is echoing Virgil. In fact, so much of Milton's style is derived from Virgil, so understanding Virgil is one of the keys to understanding Milton.

[mal4mac]

...first time PL reader ... you'd probably want to know that Milton is echoing Virgil.

A first time PL reader might not have read Virgil. I think just mentioning that "Milton is echoing Virgil" is irritating but not too onerous. The Dartmouth note requires you to have quite a lot of knowledge of Virgil.

Someone famous (maybe I.A. Richards?) said that scholars should be like good waiters... The great author is the five star Michelin chef, and his superb meal is the work of art. The task of the "waiters" is to deliver that work of art to the customer quickly, unobtrusively, without boring the customer. The Dartmouth note is like a waiter rattling on in French about another choice on the wine list in a "know it all" manner. Your suggestion is like the waiter nudging the customer and saying "it's a bit like the 1965 Bordeaux". Not so bad, but still irritating. Let the diner dine, let the reader read!

[Yulehesays]

Oh, that description certainly applies to Joyce, but there is still an aesthetic difference between blank verse and highly poetic prose.
Can you elaborate on this please?