Bleeding Pawn,
Why does "Paradise Regained" make you think of the "Divine Comedy?"
What connections do you see between the two texts?
Bleeding Pawn,
Why does "Paradise Regained" make you think of the "Divine Comedy?"
What connections do you see between the two texts?
^they are both heavily based on the Christian mythos - PL having more to do with Hell and PR having more to do with Heaven (although not really from what I understand)? I don't know.
Although, Dante and Milton are worlds apart when it comes to writing. Any similarities to be found are only from whatever Milton drew on from Dante.
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
What`s your take on Divine Comedy?
The single greatest work of literature ever written... from someone who's read a good deal.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
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I'm not sure what you mean by "take on," or "literary VS historic." I wouldn't say it as emphatically as Luke, but I would definitely say it's one of the handful of works with a legitimate claim to the greatest work of literature ever. I dislike trying to judge literature through translation, though, because I'm aware how much is lost.Originally Posted by Bleeding Pawn
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." --Carl Gustav Jung
"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Neil Gaiman; The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" --The Proclaimers
Many renowned literary works in English are translations:
Madame Bovary
The Illiad
War and Peace
The Prince
Don Quixote
The Aeneid....among others
Sorry I just don't understand what you mean by "literary works in English" when you cite works in French, ancient Greek, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Latin. How are they "in English"?
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
ruggerlad,
Books that are frequently read in English literature courses.
I've read many translated works in English classes.
Last edited by astrum; 05-21-2013 at 08:21 AM.
Translation is a necessary evil; I know those works are masterpieces, but the only point I was trying to make was that it's difficult to judge fairly one work in translation against another in the original language because you don't know how much form and content is lost in the translation.
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." --Carl Gustav Jung
"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Neil Gaiman; The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" --The Proclaimers
It sounds a wonderful course, anstrum. But it's subject is not English Literature: it is European Literature.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
For their contemporaries Shakespeare would have been far more easily understood – after all he was writing for the equivalent of movie goers or soap opera fans. (And he was not writing to be read – he was writing scripts for popular performance.) His language includes demotic elements even in the verse passages.
Milton by contrast was writing for an “audience fit but few” in a consciously developed literary style.
Nowadays the new reader will probably find Shakespeare’s slang and demotic harder going than Milton’s magificent Latinate periods, although I’d have thought I’d find Shakespeare more interesting because there are so many characters and incidents. Samuel Johnson (who didn’t like Milton’s politics or religion) commented that great as PL was “the lack of human interest is always felt”. (Quote from memory.)
PS I take it that when reading poetry, we all read it out loud (even if inaudible to others).
PPS I'm not sure I've read all of PL. Note to self - do so.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
Yes, do so; I've read it all 3 times, and it just gets better each time.
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." --Carl Gustav Jung
"To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." --Neil Gaiman; The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh" --The Proclaimers
I will but I'm not sympathetic to the theology - by all accounts justifying the ways of God to man is basically saying humans have messed it up.
On the other hand the greatest enthusiast for PL I know is a passionate Marxist.
And it sounds a doddle compared to The Faerie Queen.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
From a Christian point of view Paradise Regained is really odd. The Fall is overcome through Christ, of course, but the significant event would be either the conception, the birth, the crucifixion or the resurrection.
Instead Milton tells the story of the temptation in the wilderness, which only appears in two gospels. Why on earth that bit? Or why in heaven's name?
I understand Milton was not an orthodox Christian in so far as he did not accept the Son was equal to the Father, but rather subordinate. This might explain why Messiah is such a nobody in PL.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
Just thought of the answer. Milton dramatizes the temptations in the wilderness because Christ is there in conflict with the devil, so balancing the temptation of Adam and Eve in PL. But the temptations are not the pivotal event in Christian salvation. For St Luke, the temptations are not even a definitive defeat of the devil as he ends the account "When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time" (Luke 4.13), ie the devil is not yet defeated.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
I read Paradise Lost when I was 17 and not the best reader of verse at all. I actually found it easier to read than Shakespeare and it taught me to listen to the metre in verse, something for which I thank Milton continuously; reading Paradise Lost changed my reading experience more than any other book has. Give it a try but if it's too hard, don't stress, leave it and try again later when you have read more literature from that age. Enjoy!
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