First, here is a link to an electronic copy of Paradise Lost.
Paradise Lost with notes
And second, the poem is written in 12 "books"; a discussion thread will be set up for each one. As a way to approach this imposing poem, we thought each thread would begin with a summary of the "book" to be discussed. If anyone has any ideas that would make this forum better or more conducive to discussing the poem, please, chime in!
Saffron
p.s. Tag, DWill, your it!
-
In total there are 12 users online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 12 guests (based on users active over the past 60 minutes)
Most users ever online was 789 on Tue Mar 19, 2024 5:08 am
Opening comments on Paradise Lost
- Chris OConnor
-
- BookTalk.org Hall of Fame
- Posts: 17016
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2002 2:43 pm
- 21
- Location: Florida
- Has thanked: 3509 times
- Been thanked: 1309 times
- Gender:
- Contact:
- DWill
-
- BookTalk.org Hall of Fame
- Posts: 6966
- Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:05 am
- 16
- Location: Luray, Virginia
- Has thanked: 2262 times
- Been thanked: 2470 times
I thought the poem could be made more interesting if people offered their own ideas and resources they've found related to PL. For example, my daughter, who is a great fantasy genre reader, says that Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" reworks PL themes and has a band of rebel angels. There should be a graphic novel of PL.
I was interested in the reception given PL on publication. I found that the poem wasn't a good seller until 1788, 14 years after the publication of the complete poem in 1774. What did the trick was illustrations, which PL seems so suited for. I wonder what Milton, long dead, would have thought of that! I imagine he would have disdained such a tactic (not to mention having no idea of the quality of the pictures!). Here is the background on publication, which I think you might find interesting.
http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvi ... ation.html
I was interested in the reception given PL on publication. I found that the poem wasn't a good seller until 1788, 14 years after the publication of the complete poem in 1774. What did the trick was illustrations, which PL seems so suited for. I wonder what Milton, long dead, would have thought of that! I imagine he would have disdained such a tactic (not to mention having no idea of the quality of the pictures!). Here is the background on publication, which I think you might find interesting.
http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darknessvi ... ation.html
- Saffron
-
- I can has reading?
- Posts: 2954
- Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:37 pm
- 15
- Location: Randolph, VT
- Has thanked: 474 times
- Been thanked: 399 times
No graphic novel, as of yet. It does seem that it would lend itself well to that format. As I was looking, I came across a blog that the person said he was taking a class on Milton and they read, round-robin, the entire poem; it took 9 1/2 hours!DWill wrote:I thought the poem could be made more interesting if people offered their own ideas and resources they've found related to PL. For example, my daughter, who is a great fantasy genre reader, says that Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" reworks PL themes and has a band of rebel angels. There should be a graphic novel of PL.
Here is a list I found on Wikipedia of literary connections to PL (DWill, I bet your daughter has read the Sandman series):
In literature
* Much of the mystic poetry of William Blake is a direct response to or rewriting of Paradise Lost. Blake emphasized the rebellious, satanic elements of the epic; the repressive character Urizen in the Four Zoas is a tyrannical version of Milton's God. In addition to his famous quip in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell about Milton belonging to the devil's party, Blake wrote Milton: a Poem which has Milton, like Satan, rejecting a life in Heaven.
* Paradise Lost influenced Mary Shelley when she wrote her novel Frankenstein, in the 1810s; she included a quotation from book X on the title page, and it is one of three books Dr. Frankenstein's monster finds which influences his psychological growth.
* In his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie adapts major motifs and plot elements from Paradise Lost, such as a "fall" and subsequent transformation.
* The epic was also one of the prime inspirations for Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials (itself a quotation from Book II of Paradise Lost). In Pullman's introduction, he adapts Blake's line to quip that he himself "is of the Devil's party and does know it."
* Libba Bray uses a quote from Paradise Lost to name the second book of her trilogy, Rebel Angels quoting from it "To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n."
* In his epic Sandman comics/graphic novels series, Neil Gaiman uses Lucifer as a a character, most notably in the Season of Mists arc/collection, and makes reference to the poem, even having Lucifer openly quote Milton.
* In the 20th anniversery collection of Garfield comics, "Garfield: 20 Years and still Kicking", Jim Davis mentioned that Odie Never had to read "Paradise Lost"
- Grim
-
- Brilliant
- Posts: 674
- Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:59 pm
- 15
- Has thanked: 17 times
- Been thanked: 21 times
Well my top three playwright chocies would undoubtably be:
Aurther Miller
George Bernard Shaw
William Shakespeare
I have also read some of the play of Oscar Wilde but they were less engaging than the works of Shaw or Miller. I've been planning on reading more of Henrik Johan Ibsen specifically An Enemy of the People and Samuel Beckett specifically Waiting for Gadot.
What are you interested in, in terms of plays?
Aurther Miller
George Bernard Shaw
William Shakespeare
I have also read some of the play of Oscar Wilde but they were less engaging than the works of Shaw or Miller. I've been planning on reading more of Henrik Johan Ibsen specifically An Enemy of the People and Samuel Beckett specifically Waiting for Gadot.
What are you interested in, in terms of plays?
- Thomas Hood
-
Genuinely Genius
- Posts: 823
- Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:21 pm
- 16
- Location: Wyse Fork, NC
- Been thanked: 1 time
Re: Opening comments on Paradise Lost
SparkNotes for Paradise Lost is atSaffron wrote:First, here is a link to an electronic copy of Paradise Lost.
Paradise Lost with notes
And second, the poem is written in 12 "books"; . . .
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradi ... ntext.html
SparkNotes says:
"Milton continued to dictate Paradise Lost for several years, finishing in 1667 when it was first published in ten books. Milton soon returned to revise his epic, redividing it into twelve books (as the classical epics were divided), and publishing it in its authoritative second edition form in 1671."
The Gutenberg version is apparently the original 10-book version. Saffron's Dartmouth version has the 12 books and should be our standard.
Why did Milton rewrite Paradise Lost? I suspect for reasons of irenic Hermeticism.
10-book version: to accord with the 10 commandments.
12-book version: to accord with the zodiac.
Milton, I am surprised to learn, was a radically liberal guy. He came to believe in full freedom of conscience without institutional religion. I had no idea.
Tom