>Get told it is the greatest epic poem>Read the entire bible before commencing my reading>Book 1 contains some of the best English verse I have ever read>The rest is mostly fucking boring, with some rare glimpses of Milton's genius scattered about>Last half is a complete snooze fest Outside of PL being intellectually engaging and thematically dense, I don't see how one can genuinely enjoy reading this work. You are a bunch of posers for heralding this as the best literary work in the canon. Regardless of the intellectual challenge and the fact that one can devote a sizeable period of time to this work, there are better ways to become "learned". I enjoy speaking of PL, but to ever have to re-read some section where Michael vouchsafes Adam/Eve with some long speech - I'd rather kill myself. Regardless, the paradigm between Satan and God, and Satan's own ambition being relatable (which I infer, like many, embody Milton's own paradoxical nature), the cruelty of a God with foreknowledge, the verse describing the torrid landscape of hell, the quasi legal argument prepared by God - these are all thematically genius. I only wish that Milton could be as entertaining to read as Ovid, Virgil, Dante, Homer etc.
so what do you do when you find someone who feels the exact same way about dante or homer?
>>25202493Tell them to commit suicide.
>>25202493I would argue that Homer's historical significance in the western canon and in intellectual thought does not necessarily entail or require for his work to be enjoyed. End of thread. FPBP
>>25202512Psst… this can apply to Dante and Milton too.>>25202500Insular bastard!
>>25202519>Psst… this can apply to Dante and Milton too.I realised this and have reached the conclusion that the entire post was made in vain, hence why I wrote "FPBP". To the catalog we go.
>>25202493understand where they are coming from and discuss my interpretation of the merits of each
>>25202491
I'm afraid so. For how good the first book is the rest was mostly written via dictation to his wife. I know the first book almost my heart but I've never actually managed to finish pl. I always start skipping around the half way mark. Do go through some of Milton's early more spencerian poems. They are some of his best work.Strange that Dante doesn't have this problem. All 3 books are very different but intentional.
>>25202938I strongly disagree with you. Each book except maybe III is to me, perfect in its own way. You’d do well to try and finish it one day, though of course it’s your choice.>dictation to his wifeThis is hilarious though, if true. Considering how he spends a third of the book calling women vainglorious, further from God than men, and kind of retarded. Of course he holds many of the sensibilities typical of that time, but even still, it’s amusing.
>>25202491Why not read Goethe's Faust instead
>>25203009It's next on my list. Werther is one of my favourite novellas. I've been saving Faust for a grand occasion.
>>25203024That's like saving consumables for the boss fight and never using them in the end.
>>25202491Should have read Faerie Queene instead. Highly entertaining
>>25203025No, not necessarily. I'm not someone who waits years to read something, other than Paradise Lost. I am waiting for a holiday in particular to read due to other responsibilities.
>>25203028Fair enough than, happy reading.
>>25203030It's not Resident Evil lil bro T_T.
>>25202959>This is hilarious though, if trueThe man was blind
It embodies the paradoxical nature of the protestant worldview
>>25202491>The rest is mostly fucking boring, with some rare glimpses of Milton's genius scattered aboutthis, except the first two books are amazing.Rather, anything directly Satan is perfect. the rest is boring slop.
>>25202491>thematically denseHow deep does it actually go? Is the Bible enough to understand him? Or you need the books of Enoch too?
>>25203040I mean in context to his wife of course.
>>25202491>The rest is mostly fucking boring, with some rare glimpses of Milton's genius scattered aboutthe war in heaven?
Book IX > Book I & II > Book VI > Book IV > the rest.
>>25202491You did read it out loud, right anon?
>>25203565Not faggot OP, but I-I did.
>>25203283So, Book I, II, IV, VI, IX like >>25203564said then. Well 5/12 isn’t so bad
My favorite part of the poem was at the end when Satan returned to Pandemonium triumphant, bragging about what he did, and then God temporarily turned him and the other demons into snakes. Like it was such a goddamn petty thing to do, even though God knew it was going to happen.
>>25203897Oh yeah, Book 10 might just be the best part.
>>25202959Milton's women issues are famous, much of his political output it on the desirability of the legalisation of divorce. Blake writes about the "Six-fold Mitonic female" i.e. his three wives and three daughters, that "flies into the Ulro".>Altho' our Human Power can sustain the severe contentions Of Friendship, our Sexual cannot: but flies into the Ulro. Hence arose all our terrors in Eternity!
