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Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Editions) by…
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Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Editions) (original 1667; edition 1992)

by John Milton, Scott Elledge (Editor)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,194137,151 (4.26)15
Historical significance and beautifully descriptive prose aside, I couldn't get into this book at all. Maybe it's too much familiarity with the plot or the inevitability of the impending doom of the ending, but I just found my mind wandering throughout reading Paradise Lost and would find that I had read 10 or 12 pages with absolutely no clue as to what was really going on in what I had just read and then I'd have to re-read it all over again. I can see why Milton's attempt to enlighten his audience as to the events leading up to the fall of man were important and relevant at the time that it was written and can see the significance of his writing on the literature of today, I just did not find Paradise Lost to be personally satisfying or enjoyable.

That being said, there are some passages throughout the text that are extremely rich, beautiful and powerful examples of what the English language can be in the hands of a master author. I appreciate Paradise Lost for what it is and represents, but it just isn't what I like to read. ( )
1 vote StefanY | Jul 12, 2009 |
Showing 13 of 13
My fourth time through. Maybe I'll read it again in a few years. "Maybe"? Who am I kidding? ( )
  judeprufrock | Jul 4, 2023 |
John Milton composed this masterpiece while he was going blind. It makes me think that I can do more with my life than sit around and read books.

Anyway, we all know the basic premise, right? Satan, after his defeat by the armies of Heaven, is sent to the deepest reaches of Hell as punishment for his transgressions. So Satan begins to adjust to his new accommodations and attempts to leave Hell so that he may spite Old-Man God. What better way to do that than to tempt his newest and most favored creations? Satan is a really interesting character in this work and has a number of characteristics that make him fascinating. So, Satan causes the Fall of Man, but God takes all this in stride and the Son of God goes and says he will take up the sins of mankind.

This is the basic story, but it is all in a certain type of prose that might make it easier to listen to rather than to read on the first pass through it. So I recommend an audiobook version, but I have no idea if they even make one for that. Heck, I don't know, they might. According to the footnotes, the rhythm, the pronunciation, and the number of syllables have to be correct to get the full experience.

This particular version of the book contains a number of extras related to Paradise Lost. The main story only occupies about half of the book. The rest is taken up by criticism, excerpts from the Bible in the King James Version, and another work by Milton in its entirety. All of this expands on the work to make it more lucid to a new reader. ( )
  Floyd3345 | Jun 15, 2019 |
Paradise Lost by John Milton is a veritable landmark book within the chronicles of humanity’s past.

Milton’s imagination was as boundless as it was incisive, and he paints a masterful world in which good and evil battle for the fate of the world.

Undoubtedly one of the best epics of all-time, Milton’s Paradise Lost, features a plethora of allusions the likes of which haven’t been replicated since, and just might not be replicated ever.

Milton’s constant inferences to theological and classical underpinnings of society are one of the greatest components of this masterpiece. Every line is incisively thought out, and weaves seamlessly into the next manifesting a masterpiece of literature that’s as thought-provoking as it is deep.

The diction used in Milton’s time might be something that could turn certain readers off, but the notations at the bottom of each page of this particular version help the reader traverse through this fascinating and fierce fictional world that Milton crafted rather seamlessly.

Admittedly, an epic like this will demand a lot from the reader, and rightly so. It’s a quintessential milestone in history.

Given the complex range of characters it employs [Adam, Eve, Satan, God, Michael, etc.] and fuses with philosophical underpinnings of what many of humanity’s deeper yearnings and concerns are, only helps catapult this work beyond the rest in its field.

Ruminating upon its breadth, scope and complexity, it’s a pity that more works aren’t as well thought out as this. The standards Milton set upon himself to accomplish this piece should be held in high respect, for it is a testament to what human creativity can achieve when it sets its mind to it. And that is priceless, just like this book is. ( )
  ZyPhReX | Feb 13, 2017 |
Books 3, 9-12 are brilliant. This book challenged me and helped me gain maturity as a reader. Even if I read it six more times there would be still so much I wouldn't understand. John Milton (with help from the Holy Spirit) writes an epic poem that stands with the great epic poems of history. This epic poem takes you through the fall of the angels, the fall of man and God's great plan to rescue humanity through the voluntary sacrifice of His Son. This poem does well to illustrate that God is good. His plans are good. Humans turned from God toward Sin. We are depraved and in need of Jesus. I would like to read Paradise Regained some day. ( )
  erinjamieson | Jan 3, 2013 |
I don’t think I “understood” it any better than I did the first time I read it seven years ago. That time, I was discussing it in a classroom. This time, I read it for enjoyment. Or at least I tried to.

For me, Paradise Lost was about obedience, choice, and consequence. Everything in the poem seems to revolve around laws and the consequences for disobeying them, as well as the wonderful example of human autonomy. First Satan, and then Eve and Adam made choices. Satan’s choice (rebelling against God) caused him to be cast out of heaven; Eve and Adam’s choice required that they leave paradise.

Whether or not Milton succeeded in echoing my own understandings or in justifying God’s ways, what I got out of Paradise Lost overall is a sense of overwhelming need to reread complicated things. I didn’t reread this since I sat down to write these thoughts, and my first read was so long ago (seven years maybe?) that it seems a vague memory. I feel like I need to reread Paradise Lost a number of times in order to properly respond to it. And I suspect I’ll read it again. It could bear rereading every few years.

More thoughts on my blog
  rebeccareid | Jun 24, 2011 |
The shortest answer is: John Milton was a poetic genius. PL is so beautiful, you can't help but feel for Adam and Eve. Even Satan is a great character - he so wants to be an epic hero. This poem is a masterpiece, and he wrote it completely blind. Beautiful, absolutely amazing. ( )
1 vote VivalaErin | Apr 21, 2010 |
Historical significance and beautifully descriptive prose aside, I couldn't get into this book at all. Maybe it's too much familiarity with the plot or the inevitability of the impending doom of the ending, but I just found my mind wandering throughout reading Paradise Lost and would find that I had read 10 or 12 pages with absolutely no clue as to what was really going on in what I had just read and then I'd have to re-read it all over again. I can see why Milton's attempt to enlighten his audience as to the events leading up to the fall of man were important and relevant at the time that it was written and can see the significance of his writing on the literature of today, I just did not find Paradise Lost to be personally satisfying or enjoyable.

That being said, there are some passages throughout the text that are extremely rich, beautiful and powerful examples of what the English language can be in the hands of a master author. I appreciate Paradise Lost for what it is and represents, but it just isn't what I like to read. ( )
1 vote StefanY | Jul 12, 2009 |
Quite liked it ( )
1 vote Harrod | Dec 5, 2008 |
Paradise Lost has been one of the most challenging yet satisfying reads I have ever experienced. The story is about Satan and his fall from heaven. It goes through his battle with God, his fall into hell, his fellow fallen angels, his journey to Eden, and his corruption of the garden of paradise. It is a difficult novel to read because, not only is the language very difficult, but for a christian reader, it sometimes seems as if Satan is heroic and pitiable. I found myself often having to step back and say "remember Walker, this is the same guy who corrupted all of mankind".

I read this Epic because I felt it might fit in well with the topic of Utopias and Dystopias. I was not disappointed. Although the story was not particularly about a Utopia or Dystopia, it dealt with the destruction of the Utopia (Eden), and the seeds which Satan laid to create earth into a Dystopia. After reading the almost atheistically Oriana novel Brave New World, it was fascinating to see a Christian side to the Utopia vs. Dystopia conflict.

Although I enjoyed the Epic, I would not recommend it to many readers under the age of 20. I know that I would not have been able to make heads or tale of it had I not had a background in Vergil's Aeneid. After translating the Aeneid from the original Latin, I knew what to expect from Paradise Lost (which Milton wrote as an allusion to the Aeneid). The prose is extremely difficult, and is made all the more difficult by the numerous Biblical references as well. Unless you have spent significant time reading stories that are written in Epic form, or follow the metrical patterns of Roman literature, I do not think you will understand this Epic. ( )
1 vote WalkerSteven | Oct 9, 2008 |
I'm still trying to understand this one...a side-by-side translation would be nice.
2 vote coffee.is.yum | May 15, 2008 |
The kids never like it when you say you're reading this for class, but actually, tolkien fans should have a blast with it. ( )
1 vote wordebeast | Jul 13, 2007 |
This is by far my favorite edition of Paradise Lost. Since the text is full of archaic references, understanding what is meant can often be difficult (and result in a lot of trips to reference books).

But this edition provides footnotes that explain each reference and allusion, making reading much easier (and understandable).

Also included are a couple other smaller works by Milton, as well as thoughts and criticism on Paradise Lost (most notably the contribution from C.S. Lewis). ( )
1 vote 9days | May 23, 2007 |
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