And the sentence does not end there...
No, but I just wanted to get to the Muse part to show his emulation of Homer and Virgil. The benefit of his scarce use of punctuation, though, is that sometimes it creates a neat effect where a given phrase can be read as belonging either to the preceding bit, or the following one, resulting in a double meaning. The downside, of course, is that at times you go "hang on, I think I missed a verb five verses back... this grammar isn't making any sense to me". Or at least I did.
Oh, I didn't mean to suggest you had missed the length of the sentence. It is just one of my favourite parts of the poem.
Yes. Mostly. I may bear an inordinate grudge because of the scenes in Heaven. I do the same to Dante, except there the parts are more clearly separate, and so I think of Inferno-Dante and Paraise-Dante as distinct. With Milton I have not been able to make that distinction.
I still need to read Dante.
Inferno is very entertaining, especially if you have a good grasp of mythology and Italian history -- or get an annotated edition.
Agreed. My favourite scene of the Iliad is Hector and Andromache's meeting.
I could not agree more. I loved the image of heaven in the first book. The glimpses, the regret, the allusions to something wonderful and lost. It fascinated me. If he had kept it at that level, it would have been tantalising and great. And quite possibly he would have been killed for writing a much too subtle book. Still. I cannot abide the light and loveliness. I may just be an evil and depraved soul unable to appreciate the glory of God, of course.
I suppose Philip Pullman went and wrote the book that might have become, albeit in prose. 
I wouldn't go quite that far. Milton would have to deteriorate quite a lot.
And I don't know, light and loveliness doesn't have to be boring and preachy - it rarely is in Tolkien, for instance - so Blake really might be on to something when he calls Milton "fettered" in those bits.
True. Although one of the things about the allusions to Heaven in the Hell scenes was that it reminded me precisely of the fantasy trope of alluding to the long lost Golden Age (Valinor in Tolkien, obviously, but you find it in all epic fantasy that I can think of, and quite a few others) -- it is always just slight drips, never an attempt to properly describe it; and that works much better.
Even in Tolkien, the radiance of Valinor is not as effective in Silmarillion, I think, as it becomes when all that is lost, in the longing of those who have lost it. Nümenor as well. Perhaps I am just in love with nostalgia.
Agreed. Although I think I still prefer the beginning.
The beginning is certainly more epic, but then, in almost any epic, it's the quiet, intimate scenes inbetween (such as the one with Hector and Andromache that you mentioned, or a number of scenes from LotR that I could list) that really make the work great, or not.
True.
Great minds think alike 
Yes. I have now realized I really need to read Blake. Any suggestions on where to start?
I have now realized I really need to read Blake. Any suggestions on where to start?Depends. Do you want short poetry or insane cosmology?
They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
These two lines are one of his most successful uses of unconventional and Latinate word order, imho - put the verb in the first verse and it's far weaker. And a brilliant contrast between "hand in hand" and "solitary" on top of it.
Very true. Although I maintain that sometimes it is taken too far.
Yes. It should be read. But it is not at the top of my list of recommended classics. I'd much rather have people read Pope or Rochester.
I haven't read Pope, either. In fact, I don't think I've read - until now - anyone between Shakespeare and Austen, as far as British literature goes, not unless you count children's versions of Gulliver's Travels.
Read "The Rape of the Lock". It is short and sweet and might count towards your parody text for the challenge
You'll appreciate the full extent of his parody of epic convention, I think.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
John Milton - Paradise Lost (and Paradise Regained)
- 11/01/2011 11:25:45 PM
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Re: John Milton - Paradise Lost (and Paradise Regained)
- 11/01/2011 11:55:35 PM
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Wow. <<<<Should be over there<<<<
- 12/01/2011 12:03:38 AM
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- 12/01/2011 12:06:39 AM
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- 12/01/2011 12:06:39 AM
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- 12/01/2011 12:47:50 AM
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- 12/01/2011 12:47:50 AM
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The word "book" is a bit misleading, they're really more like chapters.
- 12/01/2011 06:22:38 PM
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I'm glad we agree on so much.
- 12/01/2011 06:50:27 PM
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- 12/01/2011 06:50:27 PM
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Re: I'm glad we agree on so much.
- 12/01/2011 07:47:21 PM
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- 12/01/2011 07:47:21 PM
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I thought I'd have a short response
- 12/01/2011 12:13:48 AM
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OK, I blogged about my own reaction to it
- 12/01/2011 05:26:18 AM
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Not that much in there that I disagree with, actually.
- 12/01/2011 06:30:28 PM
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With the utility of the religious discussion in poetic form
- 12/01/2011 06:50:30 PM
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- 12/01/2011 06:50:30 PM
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Well, if I'd found really all of those Heaven books boring, I'm not sure I'd have finished it.
- 13/01/2011 09:53:19 PM
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Re: Well, if I'd found really all of those Heaven books boring, I'm not sure I'd have finished it.
- 13/01/2011 10:32:49 PM
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I've started to read it three times and put it down due to the style.
- 12/01/2011 01:34:24 AM
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Yeah, if you really dislike the style, it really may not be worth forcing yourself through.
- 12/01/2011 06:33:43 PM
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Okay, i think I may change my classic from this to something else now *NM*
- 12/01/2011 02:41:59 PM
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It certainly wasn't my intention to frighten people off. Like I said, I'm glad I read it. *NM*
- 12/01/2011 06:31:31 PM
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Like I said, I'm glad I read it. *NM*
- 12/01/2011 06:31:31 PM
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