Paradise Lost - Long or Short

Something I found amazing about Paradise Lost is the way that time tends to fall away in the poem. The story seems like it takes all of a few days or a few scenes, but John Milton inflates everything with mounds of astounding metaphors, allusions, word games, illustration and more. Because the story takes place at the beginning of when man and woman were supposed to have been made, there is already a sense of being without time (or sometimes space, for that matter), and yet the sequence into which all of the events fall is very easy to follow once you have gone through the poem in its entirety. But Milton is masterful in the way he wraps his words around the reader and makes he or she dizzy. I have probably never read anything filled with so many rushing images in my life and even though Milton is certainly tough to get through, I think reading Paradise Lost is extremely valuable for anybody who loves literature (and/or wants to be a writer.)

Paradise Lost

"Paradise Lost" is the magnum opus of John Milton, one of the most important English writers and thinkers of his era, and indeed, of all time. The dude was good. "Paradise Lost" was written while he was blind, meaning he probably just blabbed on and on and on while some poor soul had to write all of his words down. Mind you, Milton's blabbering was very well thought out and extremely organized, but I suspect that hardly mattered to the schmoe put in charge of writing it down. And if they dared doze off while Milton was in talk mode, he would zap them with his laser vision. Just because he was blind didnt mean he still didnt have superpowers. As a class, we only looked at three of the twelve books in "Paradise Lost," books 1, 2, and 9. For the most part, Milton talks about the cool shit he did on his spring break and how stupid the sparkly vampires in "Twilight" are (I cant agree enough with this), but he takes a break from this occasionally to talk about the devil and stuff. Perhaps Milton's most intriguing insight comes in Book 1, where Satan rises up to claim lordship over Hell, stating that its "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." It is here that we are introduced to the Satanic Logic: Satan believes that his own free intellect is as great as God's will. His mind, he argues, can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in this case, its own Heaven out of Hell. Emboldened by his own words, Satan grabs his pointy trident, sharpens his pointy horns, and goes to mess shit up in the pointy world of Man. As we see in book 9, Satan does this by entering the body of a serpent and tempting Eve with fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. This in itself is amazing, because I have never heard of anyone ever being tempted by fruit. Maybe if it was a forbidden Snickers bar from the Kiosk of Smartyness or something, but fruit? Please. I could understand if it was in a pie or something, but it wasnt, and even if it was it would probably resemble modern-day fruitcake which no one ever eats, they just mail it to relatives they dont like. Well, whatever. Adam realizes that Eve had been tricked by Satan, and says he would rather die with Eve than live without her. So he eats the fruit too. The two become lustful, engaging in sexual intercourse, before falling into despair. Sounds about right if you ask me. Anyway, the point is, dont do drugs kids.

NOTE: This may be a few mins late, I had some trouble posting it because I'm pretty sure my internet provider is based somewhere in Hell, and Satan loooooves f*****g me over with frequently abysmal internet connection. Cheers!

Paradise Lost

The last selected reading for English 3113W was three books from Milton’s Paradise Lost. I thought this was an important reading to have in a Renaissance Literature class, especially at the end of ours, because it reiterated a lot of what we learned throughout the semester, and served as a kind of semester summary for the class. Many Renaissance texts, especially the ones we have focused on, explore history and past works of literature, where the writers add their own original twists to the concepts and happenings. Paradise Lost does exactly this, calling on stories from the Bible and religious stories, adding in a plot, characters, conversations and more that are all original due to his personal touch.

Milton’s twist on Adam & Eve is very interesting, and makes for an entertaining read. The fact that Satan becomes an actual character interfering with the plot of Eve’s downfall is even comical when really thought about. The fact that he becomes a snake that tempts and convinces Eve into wrongdoing may even be a commentary on Milton’s part regarding religion and beliefs in terms of tales. Adam and Eve feel ashamed at the end of their temptation spell and continue to fight at the end of Book 9, when really Satan is the one at fault and responsible for their downfall.

Paradise Lost

The infamous Paradise Lost, I must admit I was very anxious to read it after all that I have heard about it. I found Milton's perception of Satan to be interesting especially in relation to the bible and how we normally perceive Hell or Satan. Before Milton, Satan was just a force, he wasn't personified at all. Milton shows Satan as an individual with evil motives. In one of his longer speeches, Satan voices that it is " better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven". Basically what he does is put God and himself on the same level, both as rulers of their position. His argument is that there is somehow more freedom in Hell, and that you are able to make it into whatever you like. Overall, a great beginning; I wish we had more time to truly dive into it.

Paradise Lost

One thing that I thought was interesting that we talked about in class was the fact that Milton portrays the devil as the main character that we look at. Milton gives him all the good quotes and the one person we seem to spend the most time talking about is the devil. I really like the lines that the devil has when he tries to say that the other devils can make hell their heaven. I would have never thought about it that way. I also like he fact that Milton was able to connect real life England into Paradise Lost. The Garden of Eden could represent what Milton hopes for England, a paradise that is untouched by everything. Though at the time the Milton was writing the play, England, just like Eden was corrupted by the devil and devilish things.

Paradise Lost : Sympathy for Satan?

What I have found out by reading this work several times, which I find extrememly awkward to admit, is that I actual sympathize with Satan throughout the entire first book. He has been thrown down from Heaven by God, who is basically described by Satan as a closeminded dictator. Obviously, Satan is power-hungry, but that is a quality of man in general. Who is God to say that he is the only one who can ever rule the Heavens? In order for you to understand my thought process, think about what the United States would be like if George Bush was President for an eternity! Furthermore, Satan is jealous of Adam and Eve, and cannot help but to feel the resentment which overcomes him. Having once been in the good graces of God, it is hard for him to witness God favoring mortal creatures over himself. It is almost as if Satan is the child who strives for attention; who gets good grades, does his work, and deserves something for his efforts, but he never receives the recognition he has earned. That being said, the human-like characteristics of Satan are clearly intentional.

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Paradise Lost

John Milton did not back out of his promise saying that Paradise Lost would be unlike any other poem. Just like he had said he had created no rhyme scheme. At first I expected the poem to be exactly like Genesis but it actually wasn't. He had his own unique variation on the Bible. What makes Paradise Lost even more interesting is that in class we learned that Milton was basically blind when he wrote it. It seems impossible that he was able to dictate most of Paradise Lost. I enjoyed its unique variations from the typical Adam and Eve story. I liked in book 2 when Satan opens up a forum with the other devils. It was a unique perspective to write that some of the devils choose to say that God still had not completely punished them and that they still had hope. I also like when the devils said that they wanted to make Hell mimic Heaven. When you think of the two, they are the exact opposite, one firey and burning and the other imagined to blue skies and clouds. They could never be the same.