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Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

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Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#41

Post by xenophonf »

simonh wrote: post #7
geargrinder wrote: post #2

The language and imagery of this poem is worth the effort it takes to read it. It helps to have a good mythology reference nearby because he wraps the biblical story in references to classical mythology which gives it all a deeper meaning. It is amazing that he was blind when he wrote it and dictated a new section from memory each morning.

I read an annotated edition once, well tried to. The problem is if you actually pay attention to all the annotations pointing our references to this, influences on the text from that, digressions on the other it would take forever. The breadth and depth of the man's classical knowledge was extraordinary.

Honestly, it's more fun to read aloud, skipping the references. The Devil gets all the best lines IMO.

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#42

Post by calebm »

Lavery wrote: post #39
BossingAround wrote: post #13

Just like Joyce's Ulysses, Dostoevsky's work, etc. those all are books that some people consider hugely important, yet because of their difficulty, they won't touch lives of many. Even students of literature often don't understand these works. And so, I am sceptical when they get pronounced as extremely important. 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

You're missing the point in a way that brings to mind a great Brian Eno quote. "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band".

The best art is more like a laser beam than a flood light. It doesn't hit everyone, but those it hits, it burns.

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#44

Post by pure_ambition »

BossingAround wrote: post #13

Just like Joyce's Ulysses, Dostoevsky's work, etc. those all are books that some people consider hugely important, yet because of their difficulty, they won't touch lives of many. Even students of literature often don't understand these works. And so, I am sceptical when they get pronounced as extremely important. 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

Also consider that it is important to the people who have read them. Many people claim that reading Dostoevsky changed their lives, gave them much more purpose, and helped them define who they are and want to be.

Great literature helps you understand the world, and yourself. It helps peel back that onion.

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#45

Post by antognini »

> Samuel Johnson ranked Paradise Lost among the highest “productions of the human mind”

Although I enjoyed it, I think Samuel Johnson was also right when he said that "none ever wished longer than it was."

Like a lot of literature from that time it can be hard to understand without a fair amount of background knowledge in Christian theology. That was taken for granted then (and really up until the 20th century), but makes it operate in a different intellectual universe than many of us do today.

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#47

Post by defen »

BossingAround wrote: post #13

Just like Joyce's Ulysses, Dostoevsky's work, etc. those all are books that some people consider hugely important, yet because of their difficulty, they won't touch lives of many. Even students of literature often don't understand these works. And so, I am sceptical when they get pronounced as extremely important. 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

> 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

One example: It was important to Melville - we actually have his copy of Milton's poetical works (including Paradise Lost) with his notes, underlines, etc that was purchased in 1849. Work on Moby Dick started in February 1850, and Satan was obviously a very strong influence on Captain Ahab.

http://melvillesmarginalia.org/Note.aspx?id=107

https://www.amazon.com/Melville-Milton-Melvilles-Annotations...

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#49

Post by gumby »

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #30
BossingAround wrote: post #13

Just like Joyce's Ulysses, Dostoevsky's work, etc. those all are books that some people consider hugely important, yet because of their difficulty, they won't touch lives of many. Even students of literature often don't understand these works. And so, I am sceptical when they get pronounced as extremely important. 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

Milton's Paradise Lost changed centuries of how poetry is considered and continues to strongly influence modern literature today. It's one of the great pieces of work in the English language and themes introduced in this work have impact on modern English media (if not international media). This would be like calling Shakespeare's importance into question. Milton and Shakespeare touch the lives of anyone who experien…

> This would be like calling Shakespeare's importance into question.

Reminds me of one of my favorite New Yorker cartoons: two people walking out of a theatre showing a Shakespeare play, one saying to the other, "I don't know what the big deal is. It was just one cliché after another."

Once something is so deeply embedded into the fabric of a culture, it becomes the equivalent of "do fish know they are in water?"

Re: Paradise Lost is one of the most important poems

#50

Post by lurquer »

BossingAround wrote: post #13

Just like Joyce's Ulysses, Dostoevsky's work, etc. those all are books that some people consider hugely important, yet because of their difficulty, they won't touch lives of many. Even students of literature often don't understand these works. And so, I am sceptical when they get pronounced as extremely important. 'Important to whom?' seems to be the crucial question...

Joyce is intentionally written to be difficult. Never understood what all the fuss was about.

I enjoy Paradise Lost because it is cinematic. It may be just me, but it seems like an epic sci-fi space opera. For any lurkers who haven't read it (or recall being miserable being forced to read sections of it in school) I'd highly recommend it. Once you get past the arachaic language and odd sentence structure (it is a poem, after all) you're left with one of the wildest, suspenseful, horrific, adventure stories ever written.

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