Who Do You Think Is Harder to Read: Milton or Shakespeare?

[aliengirl]

The first two books of PL are not that exciting, the best bits are in the middle. I find Shakespeare more of a challenge because he comes off deceptively simple as you're reading along, and then you have to stop yourself to go back and re-read parts because they can be so dense in meaning despite their ease of reading.

Seems I should check PL again. There are books which do not draw one in right from the beginning. I agree about the deceptive simplicity of Shakespeare's works.
Thanks for the recommendation Gladys. Maybe Samson Agonistes will lead me to Milton, the only major English poet I've not read.
I found Chaucer easier than I expected. After reading two books of Canterbury Tales I picked up his style and spelling both. He is fun to read once you get along.

[astrum]

Unfortunately, they are both boring obsolete to me. So I can't tell you.

I don't think that literature can be obsolete. Many of the themes in Greco-roman literature (Aeneid, Illiad), for example, are still pertinent to our era.

[Nick Capozzoli]

Shakespeare is clear as day to me, always has been. Though both are modern writers, Milton often writes his English using Latin rules of grammar, and that has a tendency to throw me. However, neither should pose an unusual challenge for any man with an education. Even Middle English like Chaucer's or Gower's is comprehensible in spite of the antiquated spellings and obsolete diction, but I'd say that Middle English is still a struggle whenever I encounter it.

+1. Take Milton's Him who disobeys me disobeys. The problem with this sort of syntax is that it's still more ambiguous than necessary, even for those who appreciate both Latin and English syntax. Latin is a highly inflected language and is less dependent on word-order than modern English. In Latin, hominem canis mordet means "the dog bites the man", regardless of the word order. Him and me are either accusative or dative in English, and who is nominative. Milton's statement remains more ambiguous than it needs to be: it can either mean who[ever] disobeys me disobeys him[I] or who[ever] disobeys him disobeys me. Clearly the word order 9according to rules of English (SVO being the common syntax) would clarify what is meant. Unfortunately Milton eschews (I think perversely) this common English syntax at the cost of unnecessary ambiguity. I suppose that Milton intended to achieve greater precision by capitalizing "him" and/or "me," in that such capitalized are meant to refer to God the Father or Jesus Christ...

[Gladys]

Take Milton's Him who disobeys me disobeys. The problem with this sort of syntax is that it's still more ambiguous than necessary, even for those who appreciate both Latin and English syntax.

Where I'm familiar with the story, I find Milton easy reading. Fortunately, I am fairly well read in the Bible. Samson Agonistes was easy, but some of Paradise Lost demands too intricate a knowledge of all Biblical references to Satan, as well as early Genesis. My Milton has no footnotes!

[hannah_arendt]

Where I'm familiar with the story, I find Milton easy reading. Fortunately, I am fairly well read in the Bible. Samson Agonistes was easy, but some of Paradise Lost demands too intricate a knowledge of all Biblical references to Satan, as well as early Genesis. My Milton has no footnotes!

Agree. I find reading Milton really pleasant. Recently I`ve read "Pride and prejudice" and it was very tedious exprecience.

[Gladys]

Agree. I find reading Milton really pleasant. Recently I`ve read "Pride and prejudice" and it was very tedious exprecience.

I loved the poignancy of blighted couple in Persuasion. Years later, I found Pride and Prejudice fairly ordinary until halfway, when it dawned on me that Jane Austen is mildly spoofing her reader from start to finish. Thereafter, I couldn't stop laughing!

That encouraged me to read Emma, which I detest to this day.

Incidentally, I've just finished Henry James's The Bostonians, a story of love and feminism. A great read with an ever so subtle ending.

[Bibliophile79]

Milton

[PeaceLoveAndTea]

I have never really had an issue understanding Shakespeare. Milton was a little harder for me, but I was also quite a bit younger when I first picked up Paradise Lost. I have to go back and read it again and see if I still have the same issues.

[Darcy88]

I never had any trouble understanding Milton, but there are some Shakespeare plays, namely Hamlet, that I found very hard to read. Hamlet remains the toughest thing I've read to this day other than the texts of philosophers like Kant and Foucault.

[astrum]

I never had any trouble understanding Milton, but there are some Shakespeare plays, namely Hamlet, that I found very hard to read. Hamlet remains the toughest thing I've read to this day other than the texts of philosophers like Kant and Foucault.

Did you read an edition of Hamlet with footnotes?

Also, have you tried "The Pelican Shakespeare?"

[hannah_arendt]

I never had any trouble understanding Milton, but there are some Shakespeare plays, namely Hamlet, that I found very hard to read. Hamlet remains the toughest thing I've read to this day other than the texts of philosophers like Kant and Foucault.

What about "Richard III"?

[Darcy88]

What about "Richard III"?

I actually have not read that one yet. I found many of his plays to be no more difficult than Paradise Lost. Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, ect. But Hamlet and even Macbeth I found rather difficult.

[prendrelemick]

Shakespeare is examining your own thoughts and emotions, putting them into words, explaining them and where they come from. So you have a head start with him.

[hannah_arendt]

Shakespeare is examining your own thoughts and emotions, putting them into words, explaining them and where they come from. So you have a head start with him.

Absolutely true

[astrum]

I used to find Shakespeare impossible. But I recently revisited several of his texts and discovered that they weren't as bad as I had originally assumed.

I think the secret is getting an edition with good footnotes, and if possible, reading along while watching the play. Almost all of his plays have been dramatized, which you can probably see on YouTube. There's something about simultaneously seeing, hearing, and reading that make Shakespeare come alive.