So I'm reading Paradise Lost by Sir John Milton. Let me clear - I find it to be miserable going... but like certain characters of this epic (dude. seriously epic...) poem, I've brought this misery on myself. My need to finish reading this and subsequently dissect it thoughtfully (sans the vitriol of my usual discussion of it) has reached critical mass, and I'm now reading a book every day or so.
Last night I read book 4 (of 12). This book was actually much better paced than its predecessors - namely because Satan didn't spend 1,000 lines whinging about how he lost Heaven; nor did God wax epic (ahem...) about what a mess Satan made of things - but how He knew it was going to happen that way anyhow, so there.
Friends, there was dialogue in this one! And it actually made me giggle - get this, Satan (*as created in Milton's mind as a character in Paradise Lost) is funny. Check out what he says to Gabriel when he's caught red-handed in the Garden of Eden: (Gabriel asked him why he left Hell to come to Earth)
"Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav'n th' esteem of wise, And such I held thee; but this question asked Puts me in doubt."
*Milton was completely blind by the time he wrote Paradise Lost. In fact, he dictated it to his daughters....
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3 comments:
Hang in there! Keep up the good work! Just a little more and then you're done!
M(om)
wow. you are brave! I had to take a Milton class at UCLA. I literally locked myself in the library and read all of PL in three days. Worst three days ever! hope you enjoy it more than i did! miss you
Thanks, Mom.
Sautch - it's miserable! but because of my superior procrastination skills, it's turning into the 3 worst years of my life....
le sigh.
Thanks, though.
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