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bcoltin's review against another edition
4.0
Re-read this and it is as lovely as I first remembered. Some of the battle preparations dragged on but the soliloquys rule.
unlikely_bookish's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jonnybrick's review against another edition
5.0
It would be man's first disobedience not to read this classic poem. Will you be of the Devil's party?
traveltounravel's review against another edition
"Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven."
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.."
"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."
"Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n"
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.."
"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."
"Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n"
jillybebe's review against another edition
1.0
I attempted to listen to the audio book. The characterizations were off-putting. DNF.
frannien06's review against another edition
5.0
every teacher's worst nightmare lol it saved me and I got an A in my class. super happy i found this.
breamfish1138's review against another edition
Kinda mid tbh.
Read the Northern Lights trilogy instead, it's a banger
Read the Northern Lights trilogy instead, it's a banger
bedcarp's review against another edition
4.0
there's a gorgeous ode penned by milton's contemporary andrew marvell about his experience reading paradise lost which is commonly included with the text, ostensibly as a prologue and testimonial of sorts to the work's ambition and the demands it places on the reader. i went into paradise lost sympathising with marvell's rather unjust accusation of milton "the world o'erwhelming to revenge his sight", particularly as one who enjoys marvell's tautness and brevity of style – by contrast, milton is flamboyant, his ambition near limitless, his work riddled with puzzles and contradictions, and his magnum opus is almost guaranteed to overwhelm in its initial phases of reading.
fast forward two weeks and one final term paper later, and i've come to truly adore this poem – truly one of the hallmarks of literature, and absolutely deserving of its status. milton barrels through theodicy, cosmology, greco-roman mythology and contemporary catholic/protestant social commentary, his language and syntax ripple with hidden delights constantly waiting to be teased out, he retells the entire story of the creation and fall of man in a style both extremely adherent to biblical accuracy while adding the depth and richness of centuries' worth of theological debate into his work, and creates one of literature's greatest tragic villains in satan.
perhaps most impressively, milton manages to wrangle what appears to be a hydra-like beast of ambition into a tightly controlled and deliberately crafted work. while i've praised the divine comedy for its similarly staggering attention to detail, dante's universe evokes the heights of beauty through its unparalleled evocation of order, structure and divine unity, whereas milton's universe rages with civil war and the metaphysical-theodical assfuck that is capital C Chaos, and this messy state of affairs and decentralisation of power is brilliantly captured through the polyphony of discourses that run through paradise lost, the deliberately labyrinthine "wand'ring mazes" of contradictions that the poem leaves to the reader to untangle. (my personal crackhead theory is that the whole poem is one huge ironic gesture on the limits of human discourse in unravelling the divine mystery of God, in effect milton dunking on catholicism by writing the greatest english religious epic thus attempted. you go girl!)
lastly even though i love myself a good comprehensive review for works i'm passionate about i shall Not comment on the question of misogyny that gets thrown around this poem, since 1) i am not a woman and 2) milton is similarly opaque on the matter as he is on many central concerns, and most of the misogynistic voices in paradise lost may be seen as milton speaking through adam, satan etc. on that note, however, aemilia lanyer's "eve's apology" makes for a good companion piece upon finishing the poem, much as marvell makes a good overture.
fast forward two weeks and one final term paper later, and i've come to truly adore this poem – truly one of the hallmarks of literature, and absolutely deserving of its status. milton barrels through theodicy, cosmology, greco-roman mythology and contemporary catholic/protestant social commentary, his language and syntax ripple with hidden delights constantly waiting to be teased out, he retells the entire story of the creation and fall of man in a style both extremely adherent to biblical accuracy while adding the depth and richness of centuries' worth of theological debate into his work, and creates one of literature's greatest tragic villains in satan.
perhaps most impressively, milton manages to wrangle what appears to be a hydra-like beast of ambition into a tightly controlled and deliberately crafted work. while i've praised the divine comedy for its similarly staggering attention to detail, dante's universe evokes the heights of beauty through its unparalleled evocation of order, structure and divine unity, whereas milton's universe rages with civil war and the metaphysical-theodical assfuck that is capital C Chaos, and this messy state of affairs and decentralisation of power is brilliantly captured through the polyphony of discourses that run through paradise lost, the deliberately labyrinthine "wand'ring mazes" of contradictions that the poem leaves to the reader to untangle. (my personal crackhead theory is that the whole poem is one huge ironic gesture on the limits of human discourse in unravelling the divine mystery of God, in effect milton dunking on catholicism by writing the greatest english religious epic thus attempted. you go girl!)
lastly even though i love myself a good comprehensive review for works i'm passionate about i shall Not comment on the question of misogyny that gets thrown around this poem, since 1) i am not a woman and 2) milton is similarly opaque on the matter as he is on many central concerns, and most of the misogynistic voices in paradise lost may be seen as milton speaking through adam, satan etc. on that note, however, aemilia lanyer's "eve's apology" makes for a good companion piece upon finishing the poem, much as marvell makes a good overture.