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John Milton: Paradise Lost

stigmaticman

stigmaticman

Active Member
Paradice Lost is my all time favorite book

its by John Milton

its about mans fall from grace and how the devil trys to corrupt mankind

the house of pain (hell) is Satan & his minions torturous jail cell

its a classic second only to the Bible its self

check it out any bookstore would have it
 
Sorry didn't mean to sound so harsh. :)

I meant it's a poem, as in that's all I know about it, not to correct you. :eek: :eek: :)
 
Steff I know b.. all about it either, just looked it up and it says there are ten books to it.:)
 
Twelve in my edition.

I loved Paradise Lost. But I agree with William Blake that the poem loses steam as it moves toward its conclusion. The last four books are unbearable. I adore the first four, with Satan and his host being plunged into Hell, the journey to Eden, the temptation, etc. Books V through VIII are interesting too, Adam and an angel reminisce about the war of the angels, the formation of the world, great!

But then they eat the apple and it becomes boring. Literature has that annoying problem of being alive: Milton created this epic poem for moral edification, but his portrayal of Satan is the reason most people read it, and without him carrying the poem, it just collapses.
 
I'll agree that Satan is by far the most interesting part of the story...especially if you aren't Christian and/or uninterested in justifying God's ways.

It's been awhile since I last read it (2 years?), but I do think the end is fascinating because Milton calls for democracy or at least an alternative to monarchy. He seems to say that God never gave men the right to claim rule over other men and that royalty has no divine sanction.

Didn't Milton create this poem while blind too? I remember reading somewhere that he composed it in his head and told others what to write.
 
Yes, he was already blind; a true 17th-century Jorge Luís Borges :D

He also wrote the poem at the only time when England wasn't a monarchy and government was under the control of crazy puritans who could kill you for any reason. So it was a good move to be anti-monarchic.

;)
 
Heteronym said:
He also wrote the poem at the only time when England wasn't a monarchy and government was under the control of crazy puritans who could kill you for any reason. So it was a good move to be anti-monarchic.

;)
Click to expand...

Ah, didn't know that. Well that was a good move then, lol.
 
Actually It's my mistake :eek: got the dates wrong in my head: Milton actually published Paradise Lost after Oliver Cromwell's 'republic', for which Milton had written propaganda. Milton was high on the puritan and parliamentary causes, and felt disappointed with the end of the Republic in 1658 and the return of the monarchy (although Cromwell was more dictatorial than the previous kings), and wrote his famous poem where he synthesised his puritanical beliefs and his love for parliamentarism, as contradictory as it may be.

Sorry, should have checked my introduction to Paradise Lost earlier :D it's full of useful info.
 
Thanks for the correction! :) I wouldn't have looked it up myself, and would have been arguing with people over it in the future I'm sure, lol. I guess this means Milton was being a little gutsy after all.
 
Glad I corrected it before causing any accidents :)

I wouldn't say Milton was being gutsy: he's the typical contradictory artist who supports what's at the margins of the mainstream, and yet what he supports goes against his own beliefs. In his case he was in favour of freedom of speech, but he failed to realise the republic he supported was as dictatorial as the monarchy. It's always the same: Wordsworth and the bloody French revolution; Satre and the Soviet Union; Simone de Beauvoir and Mao's China; Gabriel García Márquez and Castro's Cuba.

I'm sure an essential condition for the creation of art is for artists to revolt against their society, but it's unfortunate that they always choose the worst alternative to the mainstream :D
 
Heteronym said:
...In his case he was in favour of freedom of speech, but he failed to realise the republic he supported was as dictatorial as the monarchy.
Click to expand...

Not quite that clear cut I'm afraid - read Robert Graves's introduction in his novel 'Wife to Mister Milton' to get a different view of Milton's attitude to censorship.
 
I haven't read the original poem.

Because it is in old English and I don't know it well (my mother tongue is bengali)

But I know the plot, I have read in prose form.

I really like the plot.

It's an epic.

Someday I will read the original poem.
 
The main protagonist is Lucifer

You know of course the Milton's book (or epic poem) came for criticism because it was so sympathetic to Satan? It has spawned a debate, which goes on to our days, about whether Satan is the 'Fall Guy' to use some vernacular in God's complex game and therefore innocent to a large degree and a victim?

Later on Milton became sensitive to the criticism and wrote the equally long but inferior work, 'Paradise Regained' to make up for it - his eyesight by then was truly failing.
 
PhilW said:
Not quite that clear cut I'm afraid - read Robert Graves's introduction in his novel 'Wife to Mister Milton' to get a different view of Milton's attitude to censorship.
Click to expand...

I recently read Wife to Mister Milton and have commented on it in a blog entry. See the Silver Threads blog here. Robert Graves portrays Milton as arrogant and self righteous. Maybe Lucifer comes off so well in the poem because he is the one to stand up against some of Milton's approved attitudes and doctrines.

Milton didn't mind censoring other people, he just didn't want to be censored himself because he, of course, was right.
 
While I know this is a rather old thread, I do love Paradise Lost...and thought there have been several interesting points raised. So revive I shall! :). And hope you're not all bored of this.

How do people feel about how time works in Paradise Lost? To me it appears as if the poem is written outside of time, as God sees past, present and future together all at once. Shown by such things as references to Classical events, despite presenting the supposed beginning of the world, and quotes such as:

"Adam, the greatest of his sons since born,
Most beautiful of her daughters, Eve."

And the fact that Adam refers to the Tree of Knowledge growing next to the Tree of Life in the touching words:

"so close to death grows life"

despite being pre-fall and so having no knowledge of death. True, he follows that up with something to the effect of "whatever death may be", but surely knowledge of death would be required to make that comparison?

Interesting to see what people think...
 
I have hundred year old copy I bought for 2 dollars:D last summer, I guess I will be reading it!:)
 
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