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Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics) by John…
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Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics) (original 1779; edition 2003)

by John Leonard (Herausgeber), John Milton (Autor), John Leonard (Einleitung)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,476205,994 (4.19)42
Takes guts and ingenuity to make god be the bad guy and crazed tyrant and satan the hero. ( )
  Paul_S | Dec 23, 2020 |
English (18)  Spanish (1)  All languages (19)
Showing 18 of 18
Somewhat pretentiously, I decided to read some of 'The Classics' in order to inflate an already bloated ego. This was one of those classics. Now I don't doubt Milton's skill, or that some people find it fascinating, but, having been a huge fan of The Secret 7 as a boy, I'm sorry to say that the rather protracted and verbose text left me cold. Perhaps I'm simply not ready for 'The Classics' after all. ( )
  Azmir_Fakir | Oct 31, 2022 |
I chose this for the prompt "a book on someone else's bookshelf" and the someone else is my daughter. For some reason, she picked this up last year during quarantine and became obsessed with it. She spends lots of her free time researching it, reading critical analysis of it and so she wanted me to read it so we could discuss it. Although I know I studied it at some point in school, I have to say that I didn't remember much of it. It was much more dense in its writing than I remembered and am still confused by my daughter's passion for it. Of course, the most interesting character is the devil since he is written with complexity and all the other characters are pretty one dimensional. We are meant to be taken in by him and feel sympathy for him which is quite a blasphemous approach. This is just one of the many issues that I'm sure I will be discussing and debating with my daughter until she's onto her next kick...which hopefully won't be another 500 page epic poem (as I quickly hide The Illiad and The Odyssey...maybe Beowulf is short enough to leave out - lol). I have also just read a lot books on racism, discrimination, civil rights, LGBT rights, and lots of other heavy subjects so my brain needs a few dumb thrillers now. ( )
  JediBookLover | Oct 29, 2022 |
This book is actually only 611 pages with 362 pages of notes. I didn't really bother to read the notes. Maybe another day I'll read this book again to study the whole thing over.

I really love Milton. He might just be my favorite poet. In college, I believe, I only read Paradise Lost. I might have read Paradise Regained, but I don't remember reading that one. The rest of these poems were brand new for me. Most of them I liked too.

One of the main reasons I like Milton is because he's such a good writer. Something about his poems give me light in my dark brain. I can see why William Blake liked him so much. I also like Milton because who he was as a person, but this is his poems, not his non-fiction, which I have to read at some point.

If you never read Milton before, I recommended him. He's not really for everyone. Depends if you like old poets and don't mind pro-religious writers. His words are truly beautiful. ( )
  Ghost_Boy | Aug 25, 2022 |
Poor
  GoshenMAHistory | Apr 25, 2022 |
Takes guts and ingenuity to make god be the bad guy and crazed tyrant and satan the hero. ( )
  Paul_S | Dec 23, 2020 |
John Milton deserves to be read by everyone - Not only did I enjoy the classic Paradise Lost, but I also found solace in Samson Agonistes and courage in Paradise Regained. The older style of English might take some time to acclimate to, but once done so the reading has a natural flow and beauty to it. ( )
  MusicforMovies | Oct 14, 2020 |
One of our university lecturers spent a lot of time trying to convince us that “Milton was better than Shakespeare” because he chose his words more carefully for their exact effect and placing, often with deliberate reference to the Latin derivation. I remained unconvinced. Favourite: the sonnet “On Shakespeare”! I quite enjoy “Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity” ("the star-led Wizards haste with odours sweet"!) and “Lycidas”, but they are a bit long to be favourites. And I do like “Sabrina fair, listen where thou art sitting”, from “Comus”.
  PollyMoore3 | May 15, 2020 |
The proto-Whig mind always somewhat gross. Milton has some striking lines--I was surprised how many have become almost proverbial, suggesting a wider readership in times past--but overall he is just tiresome.
  cstebbins | Sep 15, 2018 |
John Milton is a poet who wrote in the 17th century. It was a time of great upheavel in England, and Milton was in the thick of it. I started this book in January read up to Paradise Lost and put it down again and just lately I read that and the last two poems Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. I'll review these poems as these are epic works.
Paradise Lost- traces the beginnings of the fall of man in creation. From the moment Satan was cast out of heaven till Adam's expulsion from the garden. I don't know where Milton got all his ideas but it is a very well written poem that manages to capture the tragedy of Adam's sin.
Paradise Regained- Poem about the temptation of Christ in the desert. Connects to Paradise Lost in Jesus' substitution of Adam in being tempted by the Devil. I often wonder about Jesus' unique combination of humanity and divinity and while this poem doesn't solve that it provides some idea of the degree of Satan's challenge.
Samson Agonistes- This poem takes place in the jail after Samson's arrest and betrayal by Delilah and ends with his death and the resulting death of the Philistines and the destruction of Dagon's palace. ( )
  charlie68 | Jul 10, 2009 |
I am exceedingly grateful to the media for their interest in Milton's 400th anniversary which, encouraged me to revisit the works of one of England's greatest authors.
I find poetry quite difficult to read: it does not take well to speed reading techniques, as every word is significant but, I am willing to struggle with quality such as this. Paradise Lost is unlike anything else I have ever read and, apparently Milton added more new words to the English language than did Shakespeare! ( )
  the.ken.petersen | Jan 4, 2009 |
Milton's father was a scrivener and musical composer with sufficient prosperity to provide academic tutoring for his 'special' intelligent and effeminate son, who studied very hard, and is among the most learned and poly-lingual (8 languages) of the English poets. Traveling in Europe, he met Grotius, Galileo, and many Lords of Church and State, whose tyranny he came to despise.

The poems are not all political, but most. Real eloquence lights up the rough controversial style of the period, in defense of Republican causes (Parliament), and Puritan (Protestant) reforms against High-church Anglicans.

It got personal. After Milton's young bride abandoned him during the Civil War, he published pamphlets favoring legalization of divorce. Hostile responses to the pamphlets spurred Milton to write Areopagitica, his attack on Censorship. Ironically, with the victory of Parliamentarians in the Civil War, Milton was appointed Censor. He drew upon vast learning to compose a defense of the regicide, published as Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio (1652). He was the toast of all of Europe. After Oliver Cromwell made himself Lord Protector, Milton praised him and exhorted him to remain true to the principles of the Revolution. He worked for the Commonwealth until glaucoma resulted in total blindness by 1654, after which he dictated to amanuenses.

In other words, Paradise Lost (1658, quarto edition published 1667), and Paradise Regained (1665) were dictated; Milton was gone blind. He was also interrupted with having to go into 'hiding' after Cromwell's death in 1658 and the collapse into feuding factions. He was arrested and briefly imprisoned . Milton continued publishing jeremiads damning the English people for backsliding from the cause of LIBERTY, his great passion and the lietmotif of his work.

PARADISE LOST. Dilation of the moment that Adam and Eve bit the apple -- Eve having been seduced by Satan, and Adam choosing to join Eve and die in love's fallen embrace, 'to lose thee were to lose myself'. The Magnum Opus, epic poem in heroic blank verse, and like Homer and Vergil, without 'rime'. Reflects Milton's personal despair over the failure of the Revolution, yet affirms human potential. Milton encoded many references to the 'Good Old Cause'. Monism (animist materialism) is reflected in the fact that he has angels eat (5.433) and have sex (8.622). Places the Son of God at the creation--creating a coherency between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and encoding Unitarianism against the Trinitarian heresy.

Milton's fervent commitment to republican Liberalism -- of which he is one of the early courageous disciples -- perdures throughout this age of absolute monarchy.

PARADISE REGAINED. No rhymes.

Themes: Strongly held opinions supported by deep learning on Liberty, religious toleration, free elections, and the inviolability of conscience.

SAMSON AGONISTES.

Samson, like Milton, was blinded. I don't mean to suggest making more of the analogy -- with the often-quoted "Eyeless in Gaza". Samson was blinded by his wife Delila, and Milton was blinded by his work--perhaps doing too much for Cromwell's Republic.

A dramatic poem -- without "stage" directions -- with fierce monologues and a Greek chorus, exulting in violence.

The tragic hero story of Samson is drawn from the Old Testament, Judges 13–16. Milton begins, in media res, starting at Judges 16:23. . Samson already captured by the Philistines, in chains. Samson is humbled by capture, and bows to his God, who gave him great strength, but "hung it in my hair".

Now shorn, and his eyes cut out, he reveals that Delila is to blame for his weakness. He desired her, and betrayed God.

"I yielded, and unlocked her all my heart,
...But foul effeminancy held me yoked
Her bond-slave. O indignity, O blot
To honor and religion!"

It is from the Chorus Samson's victories are recounted.

"Ran on embattled armies clad in iron,
And, weaponless himself,
Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery
Of brazen shield and spear, the hammered cuirass, Chalybean-tempered steel, and frock of mail Adamantean proof;
...
Then with what trivial weapon came to hand,
The jaw of a dead ass, his sword of bone,
A thousand foreskins fell."
(lines 129–134, 142–4)

Now blind, Samson rues:
"(O worst imprisonment!)
The Dungeon of thy self
thy soul...Imprisoned now indeed".

The Chorus joins in complaints about the nature of women and how deceptive they are:

"Whate'er it be, to wisest men and best
Seeming at first all heavenly under virgin veil,
Soft, modest, meek, demure,
Once joined, the contrary she proves, a thorn
Intestine, far within defensive arms
A cleaving mischief, in his way to virtue
Adverse and turbulent, or by her charms
Draws him awry enslaved
With dotage, and his sense depraved
To folly and shameful deeds which ruin ends."
(lines 1034–1043)

This is nonsense of course. Like muscle-power hung in hair, or slaying well-armed Philistine hordes with the jawbone of an ass.

Samson forgives Delila and is then granted the divine boon of one last deadly ransack of the Temple, indeed the city, of the Philistines. His father, Manoah, describes the event as "Sad, but thou know’st to Israelites not saddest / The desolation of a hostile city" (lines 1560-1).

Milton ends by invoking a post-annihilation catharsis:

"His servants he with new acquist
Of true experience from this great event
With peace and consolation hath dismissed,
And calm of mind, all passion spent."
(lines 1755–1758) ( )
1 vote keylawk | Nov 7, 2007 |
I listened to Paradise Lost on CD whilst I breastfed my daughter. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Surely there is no greater poem written in English? ( )
  lizzy_bb | Feb 24, 2007 |
Good
  GoshenMAHistory | Mar 29, 2022 |
In college, I took a class on Milton with a great professor, so I have a soft spot for a lot of Milton's work. ( )
  dllh | Jan 6, 2021 |
Interesting really for the fernware cover. ( )
  AgedPeasant | Oct 23, 2020 |
I have only read poems On His Blindness and Lycidas. ( )
  Eileen9 | May 23, 2018 |
very old hardcover
  pastorroy | Aug 20, 2013 |
Book Description: London: Henry G. Bohn, 1861. Hard Cover. No Jacket. 8vo - over 7" - 9¾" tall. 511 pages; A collection of poetical works of John Milton including 'Paradise Regained', 'Samson Agonistes' and other numerous works, poems and sonnets. A very good copy with no inscriptions or annotations. Only some minor browning on ffep. Book includes detailed b/w illustrations from specific scene of work of Milton.
This review has been flagged by multiple users as abuse of the terms of service and is no longer displayed (show).
  Czrbr | Jun 7, 2010 |
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