John Milton

Edited with an introduction and notes by John Leonard.

Paradise Lost

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Molly M

Milton expressed his imagination so vividly and it’s crazy how this epic has impacted both culture and common religious belief. 

Abigail Marie

Briar's Reviews

Paradise Lost is a unique piece of poetry from many, many centuries ago. It's the retelling of the classic bible story of creation, God, Satan, Adam and Eve. I had to read a select few of the stories for a British Literature class, so I had the opportunity to delve into this book.

This is definitely one of the greatest narrative poetry collections. John Milton's writing has a unique perspective the Bible, and it was really cool to read it. It's definitely a hard read and I recommend listening (or reading!) some professional takes on this work. It makes the poems SO much cooler. It'll take weeks to read through this collection and to understand it, it may take a bit longer. Even though it's a challenge, it's worth it. It's a unique and interesting set of poems that is so beautifully written. It's a beautiful piece of art.

I really liked Paradise Lost Book 9 - Adam and Eve's story. I had the opportunity to spend weeks analyzing this piece, so it sits warmly in my heart. Is Milton blaming Adam? Eve? Satan? God? You decide, but I think he blames God. If God has a plan for everything, why did he plan for the two to be split up and Satan suddenly arrive? Why didn't anyone remind Adam and Eve not to talk to scary, talking snakes? Where did Gabriel run away to?! There's so many questions, and the beauty of the writing and take on the story is just magnificent. 

Four out of five stars.

Caitlin Bohannon

It should be noted that around the same time Paradise Lost came out, The Pilgrim's Progress (in which in the second part features multiple heroines on the allegorical path to salvation) also was published, the Quaker movement (which believed in the equality of the sexes and ordained female preachers) was well underway, and Margaret Fell had written "Women's Speaking Justified, Proved and Allowed of by the Scriptures, All Such as Speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus And How Women Were the First That Preached the Tidings of the Resurrection of Jesus, and Were Sent by Christ's Own Command Before He Ascended to the Father (John 20:17)." 7 years prior to Milton's poem. Milton wasn't 'of' his time, he was fairly well behind.

That being said, the story of Satan's Rebellion is pretty fantastic and definitely created a lasting mythology, and the poetry itself is of course beautifully written. If only Milton had thought as highly of Eve as he did Lucifer.

Michaela Gillmore

There are few books that can make learning about a religion less painful but this book does it well. As a religious studies major i obviously have no objection to reading books surrounding religion but this by far is one of my favorites.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in twelve books, in English heroic verse without rhyme, by John Milton (C. P. P.) and was published in 1667. The subject is the fall of man, and the expulsion from Paradise.

Isa s

The first encounter I had with Paradise Lost was when I read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy (which included quotations from Paradise Lost). That was years ago and somehow the quotations always made me want to read Paradise Lost. It took me years to actually read it (I listened to the audiobooks of His Dark Materials in mid-2007, so it actually took me five years).
It was the right decision to wait and not read Paradise Lost instantly. My five-year-younger self wouldn’t have appreciated it and I’m not even certain I would have finished it in 2007. I now listened to the LibriVox group audiobook and found my thoughts sometimes straying from listening to my next riding lesson or how to re-order my bookshelf. I probably would have had more problems with straying thoughts would I have actually read it as opposed to listen to the narration (my mind has decided as it has to concentrate on law-related reading the whole day, it may take the freedom to take a break when it doesn’t enjoy my “entertainment reading”.)
But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy listening to the audiobook. As usual I’m surprised by the quality of the narrators at LibriVox. Except for the first track (the narrator used some distorted voices that hurt my ears) I didn’t have any problems with sound quality and the narrators all did a decent job. Paradise Lost is one of those classics that one should have read at least once and I’m glad I did so. I might even listen to the audiobook (or try myself at actually reading it) again at one time (though not in the too near future).

megan

satan was actually a cool character, but this was still sexist and i didn’t like that part

Sarah Jackson

I don't quite know how to explain how much I enjoyed reading this MASSIVE poem. The language and imagery was just beautiful.
I don't quite know how I feel about Milton though. He was a misogynist... but he wasn't a flat-earther. I'm very conflicted about him.

Daryl Houston

In college, I took a class on Milton with a great professor, so I have a soft spot for a lot of Milton's work.

From almost the moment of its publication in 1667, Paradise Lost was considered a classic. This new edition is derived from the editors modernized Oxford Authors text, with a new introduction that discusses the poem's complexity and critical history, and on-page notes to gloss language and allusions.

Alyssia

I REALLY love the first 3 books. They were epic, grand, interesting, compelling, etc. After that it went downhill for me so quickly. I mean, I'm probably biased reading this as I'm not a big fan of the OT but it was just so long winded and dreary. I'm glad I read this, I do think Milton is quite the genius, but I'm more glad I never have to read it again.

mik 

Liam Holbrook

George

Niki Sotiropoulou-Nassika

Adeline A

"So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost.Evil, be thou my good."John Milton's classic account of the Fall of man explores the arrogance of Lucifer, the angel brought down by his pride. This groundbreaking work in the history of English literature is here reissued in an edition suitable for A-Level students studying the ninth and tenth books of Paradise Lost, and contains a series of informative student notes to aid analysis, along with annotation-friendly margins and an autobiographical note on the author.

Paradise Lost

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