Paradise Lost (An Epic Poem)

This is "the" Paradise Lost to own... If you are new to Milton, Pullman's comments will guide you along.

What a beautiful edition. Classic illustrations; perfect fonts; Satan himself could never produce such a great volume.

Being that a lot of this seemed to have come from the New Testament it's hard to compare it to its predecessor Paradise Lost. that being said it seemed more like a retelling of the New testament. Naturally, if paradise was lost then it would be regained as the Holy Bible tells making this book wholly unnecessary.

IT TOOK FOREVER TO COME!!!!! I FEEL THAT WHEN I BOUGHT IT THEY DECIDED TO PRINT THE BOOK AT THAT MOMENT!!!!!! OR THAT I ASKED JOHN MILTON TO SEND TO ME FROM HEAVEN!!!!!! AND IT IT TOO SMALL!!!!! SMALLER THAN EXPECTED!!!!!!!

So boring you won't believe it. And bring your dictionary of archaic English. Milton lived decades after Shakespeare, but his vocabulary is much more bizarre by modern standards.

Milton was very bright, and that's good. Unfortunately, he was incredibly pedantic and long-winded. He wanted people to know how bright he was. As a result, his book is much too long, and it is written in a manner so ostentatiously clever as to make it nearly incomprehensible.

Shakespeare was a much greater talent, and one of his characters said this: "brevity is the soul of wit." I guess Milton disagreed.

This book will bore you to the point of suicide. It will improve your education, but if you enjoy reading it, there is something wrong with you.

There is absolutely no humor in this book. If you want comic relief, watch Beavis and Butt-head between chapters.

Item was received very quickly, faster than expected. Item in good physical condition although the picture for this item is not the same as the one I received. The cover I have has a picture of Satan flying into the clouds. Good book though.

Interesting but skimpy comments from Philip Pullman, but the real attractions are a very clean and historically sensitive page design and the Michael Burghers engravings from the first illustrated edition of 1688. I own other PL's, but from now on this is the one I will take down to read.

I now can say I have read this Classic book. I also can say that it just was not for me. I would like to have a teacher explain as I read because of when and how it was written is above my ability. It was only at the point of Eve eating the apple that I understood what was going. This is not a book for everyone just for enjoyment. Thank You the store for offering this book Free to be used on my Kindle Fire.

I was so proud of myself for finishing this beast, it was so difficult but Milton has a surprisingly refreshing take on the story of Adam and Eve - I wrote my final paper on how Milton presented Eve in a much more favorable light than the majority of Adam and Eve interpretations. I highly recommend it!

I actually heard about this from another story, in which it was quoted quite often. I was enchanted by the snippets of poetry and so I decided to get the book.
So far I have no problems whatsoever. The book is an epic version of an already classic tale (or rather, a series of tales) in the most literal sense.
I adore this book and It has not left my bedside table since it arrived at my doorstep, which by the way, occurred very promptly. I hope this review encourages any other lover's of poetry and literature to read this book.

I know this has been around a while but I was just introduced to it..I love the story and the pictures and how the poem/ story flows with the way it was written. and makes you wish that someone was there to slap eve upside her head. she lost everything and brought her husband down with her! LORDY LORDY!!! but this is a great read!

I was hoping for an edition of the poem that would help wade through the arcane verbiage and perspective of a 350-year-old mind. I was hoping for an introduction, glossary, and notes to help with the task. This book has none of that, only the bare text of the poem. Other reviews said that it had good notes. There must be some confusion of editions because this one has nothing. The only reason I did not return it was because it was not expensive and therefore not worth my time to send it back.

For no logocal reason, to me at least, this book felt like it was rewritten in a rather simplified, idiotic way... was it meant to be read by infants? I do not know... What I do know is that when a writer writes something in a specific way he or she MEANS to write it in that way for very specific reasons, therefore if you change what the writer wrote you completely change the author's point of view and way of expression. Way too much liberty with the editing for my taste.

To many co-authors notes on what other people think Miltons masterpiece means. This book has been translated way too many times and in my humble opinion needs to be trashed and republished in the first edition by Milton himself..let the people who read it come to their own conclusions on his work.

I purchased this particular edition because it came with a free audio book. Stupid me, I assumed that free audio book meant an audio version of the book I was purchasing! I spent 40 minutes being shuffled back and forth between the store and Audible trying to find out how to access my free audio book. Audible finally sent me to a link to the publisher who was no help. My husband finally found, many pages into the book, a link to eight free audio books. None of them the one I had purchased. In order to access the free books and find out what they were I had to give my email address. So now they have my email and I don't have the audio book I thought I purchased. Beware deceptive advertising!

Love the text of paradise lost, but this listing sells you a book about the size of your laptop computer. The cover is is formatted wrong, and the inside has no line numbers, so if you're reading it with a class or want to look up a line or something, no can do. DON'T get it from this listing unless you really can't afford a real copy of the book!

When you want an introduction to Olde English spelling, syntax and especially run-on sentences, this book would be your best choice. Maybe it's me, but I have a difficulty with nouns at the beginning of a sentence and then the adjectives that describe them appearing twenty or thirty words later, at the end of the sentence. Although this book is a classic, and being a classic isn't supposed to be changed, a more modern word order would be helpful in understanding the concepts that Milton is trying to convey. Other than this and the lack of line counts, the poem is fantastic.

I know this is supposed to be a classic, but I found it unreadable and incomprehensible. Just a rambling prose poem. Maybe it's the kind of book you need to read in hard copy, not on a Kindle. Did enjoy the preview of The Demonologist however and will likely buy it.

Of course, Paradise Lost is one of the greatest poetical works in the English language. That said, on my Kindle, it is simply unreadable. Every line is numbered and spaced somewhat far apart. No way one can keep the eyes focused on the text enough to get anything out of it.

Ok. So I finally read it. I can now say that you are better off getting an audio book as it is written by Milton in a very strange way. Kind of like a poem with weird breaks and such. Surely there must be an English major out there who can explain why it is written this way.

Give me a break, rate "Paradise Lost" on" on predictability, mood, pace and characters. Gosh, I knew from the beginning what was going to happen to all the characters. I do have a problem with the Kindle edition. I don't find any annotation. But the marvelous text is there, so I'm glad to have it.

Maybe it was the plot and maybe it was the translation, but I was bored to literal tears. I didn't feel the beauty of Milton-- I felt the tedium. Taking away the language that may perhaps be the fault of the translation... what a horrible idea. "Reconciling the ways of god to man" or whatever is a nice way of saying, "Here no, you have to believe in God because this is why he did these things and now it totally makes sense. Nailed it!"

Sorry, no. God is just an omnipotent bully.

This book purports to have the entire poem in it but it doesn't! Since it is a copy of an old out of print book, it is very difficult to read. I returned it for a $3 Dover publication that has it all!

We had to buy this book because our dear mini schnauzer decided to eat the school library book copy that we had in the house !! Didn't think I was going to be able to find one to replace it .... so happy when I found it on the store !!
You guys made it easy to fix a big problem ! Thanks!

Beautifully written! Powerful and thought provoking! I understand why Paradise Lost is considered a classic. Milton's depiction of "The Fall" is absolutely extraordinary! I cried at the ending.

As for the Oxford version, the introduction and on page notes really helped. I definitely recommend this version of the text.

This Collectors Edition in leather is absolutely beautiful!! I ordered it as a gift for a friend who is an avid reader and college professor. He was very impressed with it's quality. Thank you for having the high standards that you do.

I don't know what happened to this edition, but I selected it based on 5 star reviews which lauded the introduction and footnotes within it. THERE ARE NONE!!! Only the text of the poem. Trying to get through a literary masterpiece as complicated and obtuse as this, without some form of explanation, is like trying to make your own computer from scratch without any guidance whatsoever. Additionally, this printing is a a shoddy, oversized paperback. Totally useless.

This is a highly recommended book by practically everyone who has read it. My opinion is that this is for a person who is into high-caliber poetry.

I am an avid reader, but for some reason, I was unable to get into this book--at all. I had to re-read sections multiple times to understand the meaning, and it was exhausting to refer to the multiple footnotes on every page. Perhaps this isn't my ideal genre.

I will say that those who created this book did their homework, and made a great attempt to help the reader understand its content. You read a bit about the biography of the author in the beginning, and understand where he comes from in life.

I know this is an absolute classic book, but for me, I strugggled a bit while reading it.

Fantastic and great condition for the age. A great find for a great price that has made my sister very happy as it was exactly what she asked for. A few pencil marks in some of the margins but just adds to the character in my view. Arrived about a week after estimate but was coming from US to UK and was well packed. Very happy customer

Written by one of the main translators of the King James Bible and the person most responsible for the flowery poetic verse in things like Proverbs and Corinthians it is one of the greatest literary classics of all time. From Satan's revolt against God in heaven (the back story you never got in the bible) to Man's fall and coming to grace it's a beautiful action adventure/philosophy text that goes very well with bible study because it is written by perhaps the greatest biblical scholar of all time.

The book came with another, and I still had to pay full shipping on both, which seemed odd, but again for what I paid for the books it's a good deal. The complaint about this book was either due to shipping or previous use as it was, and after a few weeks, is still curled. The spine doesn't seem to be too damaged, but for a "very good" or "Excellent" rating( I can't remember exactly what it was) I had hoped for a little better condition. The shipping speed was great.

There are so many better editions of PARADISE LOST in paperback, that only someone on a very limited budget would buy this one.

Why did I buy it then, you may ask? Because I wanted a cheap copy that I could mark up.

Unfortunately, the seller sent me a copy, supposedly in "very good" condition, that was already extensively marked up in part, and, even more irritating, the remarks of the marker, obviously some fledgling English major, were inane to the nth degree and in ink.

I suppose this is better than buying a more expensive paperback and discovering that it too was marked up by a know-nothing.

Fortunately, most sellers give more accurate descriptions of the condition of their books than this one did.

I'm not a big poetry fan, so I thought if I bought the audiobook, it would be tolerable. I was wrong. But the only reason I really didn't like it was because I didn't like the narrator's voice. If you are going to have a British narrator for Epic poetry, the voice should be strong and booming, not weak and nasally.

I jad forgotten that it was NOT written in prose. I'm not as eclectic as my friends who majored in English or the Arts. I was a lowly math major! Give me a break. I found myself searching for the period (end of sentence, so I could diagram it to understand. That lasted a total of maybe two hours. Definately NOT for a casual novel reader like me!

I was greatly disappointed by this book. Milton writes so much more about Santan's fall from Heavan & the fall of man than he does on how Christ regains paradise. He only covers Satan's temptation of Christ in the wilderness. What about Christ's crucifixion & resurrection? Where is Milton's creativity in describing what Christ's second coming will be like, or even what happens to Satan after paradise is truely regained?

It was so far beyond me that I embarrassed myself. I thought it would be similar to C.S. Lewis literature.... But it took me totally by surprise. I gave it to a friend of mine who has far higher capacity than I. The problem was not the book, I assure you --- it was moi !

Paradise Lost by John Milton is a veritable landmark book within the chronicles of humanity’s past.

Milton’s imagination was as boundless as it was incisive, and he paints a masterful world in which good and evil battle for the fate of the world.

Undoubtedly one of the best epics of all-time, Milton’s Paradise Lost, features a plethora of allusions the likes of which haven’t been replicated since, and just might not be replicated ever.

Milton’s constant inferences to theological and classical underpinnings of society are one of the greatest components of this masterpiece. Every line is incisively thought out, and weaves seamlessly into the next manifesting a masterpiece of literature that’s as thought-provoking as it is deep.

The diction used in Milton’s time might be something that could turn certain readers off, but the notations at the bottom of each page of this particular version help the reader traverse through this fascinating and fierce fictional world that Milton crafted rather seamlessly.

Admittedly, an epic like this will demand a lot from the reader, and rightly so. It’s a quintessential milestone in history.

Given the complex range of characters it employs [Adam, Eve, Satan, God, Michael, etc.] and fuses with philosophical underpinnings of what many of humanity’s deeper yearnings and concerns are, only helps catapult this work beyond the rest in its field.

Ruminating upon its breadth, scope and complexity, it’s a pity that more works aren’t as well thought out as this. The standards Milton set upon himself to accomplish this piece should be held in high respect, for it is a testament to what human creativity can achieve when it sets its mind to it. And that is priceless, just like this book is.

the author addresses the fallen angel as Satan and not by its name "Lucifer", Satan and God was still on talking terms after the war era (See the book of job chapter 1:6)and its a fact that Satan (being a jinn and all and not an angel) was not a participant in the war, Lucifer was the common denominator. Lucifer is a fallen angel, Satan is known as the accuser, the prosecutor, a jinn of some sort, by virtue of various beliefs religion(s), dogma and folklore. however it was clear by Milton that it was Lucifer's selfish greed, covetousness, and jealousy, that created the argument which lead to underlining civil strife depicted in Milton's book touching the Kingdom of Heaven and that Satan the accuser was an absent participant. Lucifer is the devil, Satan is not good either but he was not the morning star, rebel leader in heaven's civil war (or the first war), hence it is hereby recommended that the author who did rewritten "paradise lost and regain in plain English". have the book be edited in its entirety, due to his unclear diction which requires extensive review, i would require my money back, so i can purchase another book.

I struggled through the first cd. I thought his pretentious old english style poetry would wane to some real listening material that I would enjoy.
It didn't, the author seemed focused on impressing himself with his clever languange skills.
After a GREAT effort I finished the FIRST cd.
That was enough.
I put it away.
The only reason I would read or listed to this tedious book is if I had to for a class.

amen

I don't understand all the glowing reviews, or the fact that this is apparently a bestseller and part of a series of bestsellers. The writing is mediocre and in some places even juvenile. Here are some of the things that bothered me the most.

- I just don't buy into this woman being not only a law enforcement officer, but the top one in her town. Did she only manage to get chosen because her late husband had the job before her? Her detecting skills seem weak to nonexistent; it seems that her subordinates do as much figuring out of the meaning of evidence and making clever suggestions about how to proceed as she does.

- She jumps to absurd conclusions. Unlike a previous reviewer, I didn't think it was logical for her to immediately lose it about the death of that other girl and to immediately assume that her own daughter was in danger. First of all, the other girl was hit by a car, and whenever I read of someone being presumably murdered by being hit by a car, I remember something interesting I read in a book that involved the making of a mystery movie. A consultant told the director something along the lines of, "Don't use a hit-and-run as a murder method, because it just isn't reliable. It's true that lots of people get killed that way, but a killer can't COUNT on it as an effective method for murder - there's too much chance that the victim will survive." So I, for one, would not have immediately assumed that the girl was murdered, yet our sheriff decides that right away. Which of course - another annoyance - sends her straight into protective-mama mode and she starts freaking out about her own daughter being next on the hit list. (Yes, I realize that she turned out to be right, but the whole thing still didn't sound logical to me - it was just too convenient.) In fact, in general there was way too much home-life drama centered on her relationship with her daughter. All that angst was tiresome and distracted from the plot. I guess books are more like TV shows than I thought; both can get really annoying when they are too kid-centered.

- Speaking of jumping to absurd conclusions, that business about catching her husband talking to another woman, deciding right away (due presumably to her high-level detective training) that the two of them were having an affair, and storming off in a huff without even discussing it with him, took the book into soap-opera territory. What was she, in junior high? What grown woman, a mother and a sheriff for goodness' sake, does that sort of thing?! The crime then took a back seat for the next TWENTY-FIVE pages (yep, I counted) while she wept and moaned and whined on the phone to her best friend, speculating on her future as a divorced woman and how ever will she manage, until the friend eventually managed to convince her to take the radical step of letting her husband tell her what actually happened! I nearly threw the book out the window at that point.

- That business about going to the headquarters of that cult. I admit to not knowing the law, but can such a place really refuse entrance to police during a murder inquiry? That did NOT sound likely to me - surely the police can find a way to get in there.

- The relationship between Joanna and her mother was pretty much as tedious as that of Joanna and her daughter. Another one of those supposedly strong, professional women who is cowed by her domineering mama. And did they really have to keep referring to her mother by her full name - Eleanor Lathrop Whatever - EVERY single time? As if she were, oh I don't know, Mary Tyler Moore, or Anne Morrow Lindbergh, or some other highly famous woman who is always known by three names? Sorry but telling me that she's on the highest rung of the cream of high society of Buttonhole, Arizona doesn't convince.

And, to get really petty:

- As other reviewers have pointed out, couldn't they just once have referred to their car as a "car?"

- Her husband's name was "Butch?" Really? Okay, maybe it was a nickname, but couldn't they have said so, and mentioned just once what his real name was? And did anyone else notice that when he gave her his manuscript to read, the name he'd put on it was "F. W. Dixon" - which was the name (with the F. standing for Franklin) of the person who wrote the Hardy Boys mysteries? I wonder whether that was meant to be an inside joke, like that John Grisham book I once read that had a character whose initials were "W.T.F." I'm sure he chose that deliberately.

No, I'm not interested in reading more about this "heroine." She's immature and not terribly competent, and I do not understand what all the fuss is about. And the writing is mediocre.

And one last thing: couldn't she have chosen a better title, one that isn't already being used by one of the great classics of the English language?

Life feels more complete after reading the greatest poem in the English language.

Over the years I've tried on a few occasions to read Paradise Lost, but I could never get more than several pages in before giving up. The text is dense and intricately formed. My modern mind could not bear up under its weight for more than a few minutes at a time. And the book is long. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with more than 10,000 lines of verse. This is the second edition, published in 1674, arranged into twelve books. According to the front matter, Milton had been composing it in one form or another since he was a young man.

I really wanted to experience the poem that is Paradise Lost, though, so I wasn't giving up. I thought: How is poetry sometimes best digested? By the ear, of course! By listening to a reading. So, to help me get through and enjoy Paradise Lost, I decided to listen to it being spoken as I read along. (I'd done the same thing with Virgil's The Aeneid and really enjoyed that listening/reading experience.) I did some online sleuthing and found a remarkable reading of Paradise Lost done on December 14, 2012, at Trinity College, Dublin, which included Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. Search on "reading paradise lost trinity college" and you'll find the page with the live recordings.

To say that Paradise Lost is a "classic" and leave it there is to do a grave disservice to the work, I think. What Milton has done is.simply remarkable, wonderful, breathtaking, and spectacular. Use all the words. His turns of phrase are lovely, his compact use of language is startling, his rich descriptions are a delight. Any student of the English language can and should learn from him.

Often I stopped my listening to read or re-read a passage, for pure enjoyment of the language, or to read the profuse and very helpful footnotes or endnotes in this edition.

However you can, whenever you can, do yourself a favor and get your hands on this edition and read it, enjoy it, and relish it.

Guaranteed to change your mind on life and poetry.

Paradise Lost is a work which is divided into twelve sections. There are two stories or arcs within this poem that overlap in content and order. In the fashion of epic tradition, the poem starts in the middle of the story. The first arc deals with Lucifer/Satan and the fall of him and the disobedient angels. The other arc follows Adam and Eve, their temptation, and their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Other characters include God the Father, God the Son, and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The most interesting scenes in this poem to me are the battle scenes between Satan's angels and God's angels. It takes place over three days with both sides looking like they have a shot at winning. On the third day, Jesus intervenes and defeats Satan's angels on his own. I found this section interesting because it was told from several different perspectives. Satan is the ultimate villain in this poem and this world, but at least in the poem, we see reluctance and hesitation on his part before destroying things. What I especially liked about this edition is that the Arguments are at the beginning of each section. These Arguments serve as an introduction for each section and help lessen confusion for most readers, myself included.

Paradise Regained is the follow-up work to Paradise Lost. It is much shorter in length, comprising only four books as opposed to twelve. Unlike Paradise Lost, which deals primarily with Satan's interaction with Adam and Eve, Paradise Regained chronicles the Temptation of Christ in the desert, which is found in the Gospel of Luke. The writing style is also much plainer than the first work, in that it lacks long similes and the gilding of the lily. Most people agree that this "brief" poem primarily deals with reversals. Everything that was lost in the first book is now regained. We see two key traits in Milton's Satan - hunger for power and foolishness. This is true in real life as well. Satan tempted Jesus because he wanted to be God and in his mind the only way to do that was to make Jesus submit to him. He is foolish to think this would work though. I found this book to be good, but not as good as Paradise Lost. The reader, Anton Lesser, did a wonderful job with both narrations though. His soothing British voice was the perfect fit, and instead of just reading both poems, he gave the characters voices and life!

Paradise Lost is an epic poem retelling the events of the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis with some creative additions. It starts off with Satan after being expelled from Heaven and forced to live in Hell. Satan in this version of events was originally an angel who led a rebellion of angels against God and was forced from Heaven as punishment. Angry at the actions of God, he decides to interfere in the new world just created by God. Meanwhile, the first inhabitants of this new world, Adam and Eve, live an innocent lifestyle that becomes threatened by Satan's actions.

Generally considered to be John Milton's greatest work, this book is an enjoyable read. While the biblical account of these events is rather light on the details, Milton uses those basic events to expand the characters and events involved to create a large story. I would particularly recommend this edition published by Barnes & Noble as it contains many explanatory footnotes. Considering the poem was originally written in the seventeenth century, Milton used many terms and phrases which would be unfamiliar to the modern reader and the footnotes really helped me to understand the story.

In conclusion, I would recommend this to those that like poetry, fiction based on the Bible, or want to check out one of the more important works that helped define the English language.

I read Milton’s epic for the first time a few months ago and I had mixed feelings about it. There were passages of truly moving poetry, soaring and powerful rhetoric, dramatic interest, and genuine psychological insight. However, there were also passages of poetry that were not really to my taste, I thought the psychology was sometimes based more on Christian dogmatics than on genuine insight, and I have some pretty profound disagreements with Milton when it comes to theology and philosophy. One might argue that the latter complaints are all theoretical and have more to do with Milton’s “ideas” than they do with the work as a dramatic poem. However, I think that our aesthetic judgments are intimately tied up with the ideas in a work, and whether we judge those ideas to be profound or superficial, true or false. So I do not think that philosophical criticisms are out of place in a review of a work of fiction and I am really more qualified to make those kinds of criticisms since I know a fair amount about philosophy but I know very little about poetics.

My review will focus more on the negatives (as I see them) but I certainly do not regret reading Paradise Lost. There is a lot of value in Milton’s work and I am sure I will reread it eventually and perhaps my opinions will shift with time. There is a lot of beautiful poetry in Milton and Milton manages to make what I think is a somewhat unpromising subject - the battle between God and the Devil, seeing as God is omnipotent - into a fairly interesting and engaging subject for his epic. Now onto the criticisms!

THE TITLE AS PROMISE. The title of Milton’s epic promises a lot and it is to Milton’s credit that he attempted to take on such an important subject for his poem. Milton is attempting to take on a truly universal problem: How did we lose Paradise? Or, to put it in non-theological terms: why do we make ourselves miserable? What psychological traits are at the source of our errors, obsessions, cruelty, and stupidity? Milton is not writing a treatise on these questions but his psychological portraits of Satan and his retinue, the angels, and pre- and post-lapsarian Adam and Eve are designed to answer these questions. The questions: What is Satan’s motive in rebelling? Why does he stick to his rebellion knowing he can’t win? What is Adam and Eve’s state before the Fall? What in Adam and Eve’s nature makes them prone to temptation?, are not just literary questions about the poem Paradise Lost, they are supposed to provide answers to our human predicament and the human condition.

Milton is often praised for his psychological portrait of Satan and the pre- and post-lapsarain psychology of Adam and Eve and I think some of the praise is deserved (particularly his portrayal of the psychology of Satan). For Milton, Satan is really a state of mind, as much as he is an individual character, and it is a state of mind characterized by stubborn willfulness, despairing self-assertion, obsessive clinging, and an unwillingness to let go of one’s own misery out of a sense of injustice. It is not difficult to find real world examples that illustrate how such a state of mind can lead to hell on earth: people who feel wronged and would rather be destroyed, or suffer terribly, and let everyone around them suffer terribly, rather than give in or let go. I will let the reader fill in the blanks.

I am not convinced that the praise that Milton has received for his pre- and post-lapsarian Adam and Eve is as deserved. It seems to me that Milton is really trying to solve a problem similar to the problem that Kierkegaard was trying to solve in The Concept of Anxiety: How could sin arise in a state of innocence if it were not already present? Or, how can we explain the origin of sin without presupposing its existence? Kierkegaard wrestles valiantly with the problem and develops a very interesting psychology of anxiety to account for it. Kierkegaard’s psychological analyses are original, profound, and astute, whether you buy into his dogmatics or not. Milton, on the other hand, does not seem to me to have anything very interesting or original to say.

Milton essentially toes the party line by offering the standard theological answer. He tells us that the Fall is the result of Eve’s “free choice”, and Adam follows Eve as a result of his own “free choice”, and God is not to blame for it. This raises all the well known and thorny problems about free will which I will not get into here. The problem here is not that I disagree with Milton’s theology (though I do) but he seems to me to fail to go beyond the official position of his Church. He does not provide any new psychological insight (as Kierkegaard does) but simply gives us the official answer to the problem without really wrestling with the problem in a personal or existential way.

MILTON LACKS DIALECTICAL SUBTLETY: On my second reading of Paradise Lost I started to notice Milton’s interesting use of adjectives like “high”, and related words. On the one hand, “high” and its related words are often used to describe God, or God’s actions, or Heaven and the Heavenly beings. To be “high” in this sense, is to be glorious and rightfully exalted. On the other hand, Milton constantly uses “high”, or verbs that suggest rising or aspiring, when referring to Satan and the other fallen angels. In this sense, “high” stands for a kind of overweening pride. Milton also describes Heaven and Hell in similar terms: Heaven is paved with gold, and Pandemonium is a golden palace. Some readers might consider this a virtue: Milton is purposely contrasting the “true glory of Heaven” with the “false glory of Hell”, or something like that. However, I think it lacks the dialectical subtlety and paradox that are present in the Gospels.

In the Gospels, we are told that the “meek will inherit the earth” and “anyone who loses their life for Jesus’s sake will find it.” All of this is lacking in Milton’s epic. Jesus is portrayed as an omnipotent God rather than a humble human servant, he triumphs against Satan through force of arms, he meets Satan on his own ground, and there is none of the inversion of values that is so characteristic of the Gospels. Dostoevsky is much more successful in The Grand Inquisitor where he has Christ triumph by remaining silent and kissing the Grand Inquisitor rather than engaging in argument. This is far more powerful and far more Christian. Milton’s epic would have been more powerful, in my opinion, if he had developed his symbols more consistently, and made an effort to portray the dialectical paradoxes found in the Gospels. If Milton decided to portray the overweening pride of Satan with “golden palaces” and had his fallen angels give rhetorically brilliant speeches, he should have portrayed Heaven as humble and earthy, and God should have remained silent, or spoken in short and simple speeches, rather than trying to outdo the rhetorical brilliance of Satan on his own terms.

THE PURPOSE OF LITERATURE: I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about what the purpose of literature is, what is the intended effect, what do we get out of reading literature, and similar questions. I do not have a single answer but I think one thing that literature does, or attempts to do, is reconcile us to the facts of life. It seems to me that we all tend to have a naive belief, somewhere deep down, that we are supposed to be happy, or that happiness is our natural state, and that it is only temporary external circumstances which get in the way of our happiness. We tend to view things like suffering, stupidity, cruelty, and death as mistakes, as not really belonging to the essence of life. As we get older we often come to realize that these painful aspects of the world are inescapable and ineradicable. This is not easy to accept. I think literature is often our way of facing the ugly facts of life and trying to come to terms with the fact that life is not really how we want it to be. Kurt Vonnegut has a good quote about this: “Do you realize that all great literature is all about what a bummer it is to be a human being? Isn’t it such a relief to have somebody say that?”

Milton’s epic promises to explain why the world is not how we want it to be and “justify the ways of God to men.” Milton has some good bits about how we should live in the world post-Fall. He argues that we should accept that both joy and sorrow are a part of life, and he writes, when an Angel is speaking to Eve, “Thy going is not lonely, with thee goes/Thy Husband, him to follow thou art bound;/Where he abides, think there thy native soil.” For Milton, there is a reason that humans do not feel at home in this world: they were born in Paradise. This myth is very powerful, it appears in many different religions, and it is a deeply rooted feeling that we all share. Milton taps into some of that power and shows how it is possible to feel at home in this world through companionship, and try to build a Heaven in Hell. This might seem a bit sappy but I like all of this. I find it genuinely moving.

However, Milton’s attempt to explain why the world is the way it is, and to justify the ways of God to men, is less successful. Milton tries to convince the head but he fails to convince the heart. This is a continuing theme in my criticism of Milton. I think there is a reason/passion psychology operative in Milton that leads him to favor reason at the expense of emotion and blame our troubles on emotion. To put things in modern terms, Milton fails to see the intelligence in emotion, and so his reasons make no effort to convince our emotions, since our emotions are fallen anyways. We cannot trust our emotions, they are what led us to disobey God in the first place. There is a debate in Milton scholarship about whether we should really be on the side of Satan - poets like Shelley and Blake find Satan much more interesting and even more sympathetic than Milton’s God - or whether we should be on the side of God. I think the reason this debate exists is because our feelings often side with Satan while the arguments Milton provides lead us to side with God. I do not think this disharmony between reason and emotion is a positive aspect of Milton’s poem. I think it is the result of an overly simplistic psychology.

HYPERBOLE: This complaint has to do with Milton’s style and aesthetic. When Milton describes things he often resorts to hyperbole. A good example is the opening of book II where Milton describes Satan’s throne that “far outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind” (II. 2). Milton does not tell us anything about what the throne actually looks like - he does not even go as far as to say what it is made of, though we might assume it is made of gold and pearls from the later passage. Instead, Milton simply attempts to convey the magnificence of the throne by effectively saying it was beyond anything we could imagine. This has the effect of drawing the mind away from the actual throne and into the sky. This is a general problem I have with Milton’s aesthetic. Milton’s world is grand and vast but unreal.

Milton may have been attempting the sublime, to remind the reader that “spiritual” things exceed the human mind’s ability to grasp them, but, in doing so, he makes them feel airy and insubstantial. He does better when he compares Satan’s size to a whale that a lost sailor mistakes for an island at night. This is a concrete image and conveys something very specific to our feeling. We can imagine the shock of realizing the island we sought for safety is actually a living creature. We get a sense not only of Satan’s size but of the fear of suddenly realizing we are not on solid ground and are in danger of being swallowed by the Leviathan. And we feeling that Satan has bodily reality and is not merely a raging fog. All the wealth of Ormus and Ind is not a concrete image. It is just a phrase that is meant to convey the same thing as “all the tea in China”. Both are impossible to picture. Or, it is like saying there are trillions of galaxies in the universe. It is too abstract to convey anything real to our imaginations. Milton is constantly sending our imaginations off into the void with nothing to hold onto and it undercuts his attempts at sublimity. For something to be sublime it first needs to be real.

CONFLICT BETWEEN REASON AND FEELING: Milton often fails to achieve his intended effect because he separates reason and feeling. For example, how do most readers respond when Adam decides to join Eve after he realizes she tasted the apple? Our reason is supposed to tell us that Adam is disobeying God, he is sinning, and should be condemned, but is that how we feel when we read the scene? I am not sure how other readers felt, but I felt like Adam was being noble, he was sacrificing himself so that Eve would not have to be alone. I know he claims that he is eating the apple because he cannot live without Eve but even that seems noble to my feelings. Imagine for a moment how we would feel if Adam had said to Eve: “You blew it, but I am certainly not going to suffer because of your mistake, you are on your own!” Would we find that admirable? How would we feel about Adam if that is what Milton had him say (obviously in more poetic language)?

One can argue that our natural feelings have been distorted by the Fall and that in an unfallen state we would not only think, but also feel, that Adam would be right to abandon Eve to her fate, but I cannot really shake the feeling that going with Eve is the genuinely moral thing for Adam to do. I cannot remember who said it, but someone once said, “What if my friends in Hell need me more than I need Heaven?” That to me is an admirable moral sentiment. I feel like Milton is constantly putting us in situations where we have to violate either our reason or our feeling and we are constantly being asked to judge our feelings as “wrong” or “misleading”. But not all of our feelings are immoral. At the very least, we feel respect for the moral law, as Kant argued, and without that reason would be helpless to determine our action. It is not just that Milton puts reason and feeling in conflict, there is often a conflict between Milton’s stated theology, and our highest moral feelings. This, to me, is a problem, and it gives the entire poem a hard Puritanical atmosphere.

LACK OF UNIVERSALITY: Milton’s poem seems to me to lack the universality of Homer or even Dante. A modern reader can disagree with all of Homer’s theology, or all of Dante’s dogmatics, and still read those epics as aesthetic wholes, and get a great deal of insight out of them. You still feel that the epic voyages of Ulysses and Dante express something universally human. If you disagree with Milton’s theology, I think the most you can hope for from Paradise Lost is a few isolated pleasures. You can enjoy the music of Milton’s poetry, his turn of phrase, the power of his verse, or its rhetorical brilliance, but these will all be isolated from the entire effect Milton was trying to achieve. Milton was writing a didactic poem to “justify the ways of God to men” and chastise the sinful. This is part of the intended effect. To enjoy Milton, while dismissing the theology, is like cutting the branches off a tree to pick the berries. The berries might taste good but you are no longer really enjoying the tree. You just have a lopped off branch that has been detached from the whole to which it belonged.

I cannot remember who said it, but someone said that Shakespeare was superior to Milton because Milton had too many opinions. That gets at the same thing I am trying to get at. Milton has too many opinions and, if you happen to disagree with those opinions, your enjoyment of Milton is going to be seriously curtailed. Shakespeare as a person probably had lots of opinions but, in his work, he included the whole world (that might be a bit of hyperbole). Milton claims he is going to attempt something that has never been done before. Milton supporters claim that Milton’s subject is the most universal of all themes, that it encompasses all of human life and human history. And yet, Milton’s epic still winds up feeling pinched and narrow when compared with the world of Shakespeare or Homer or Dante. It still feels Christian, rather than Human.

This wasn't an easy read, but it was a very rewarding read. In this epic poem, John Milton lays out a narrative covering Satan's rebellion, the war in Heaven, the creation of the universe, the creation of mankind, the Fall, and the promised hope for Adam and Eve after Paradise is lost.

This poem is separated into 12 different "Books." As a first-time reader, here was my strategy for getting the most out of this reading:

1. Read a full review and analysis of each Book prior to reading the actual text.
2. Read the actual text.
3. Discuss the text with a friend who has already read the poem for further insight.

I was lucky to have Step #3 above, however even if that isn't an option for you, reading a synopsis prior to reading each Book of the poem should be helpful for comprehension.

This definitely feels like the type of thing that I could see myself coming back to down the road.

This wasn't an easy read, but it was a very rewarding read. In this epic poem, John Milton lays out a narrative covering Satan's rebellion, the war in Heaven, the creation of the universe, the creation of mankind, the Fall, and the promised hope for Adam and Eve after Paradise is lost.

This poem is separated into 12 different "Books." As a first-time reader, here was my strategy for getting the most out of this reading:

1. Read a full review and analysis of each Book prior to reading the actual text.
2. Read the actual text.
3. Discuss the text with a friend who has already read the poem for further insight.

I was lucky to have Step #3 above, however even if that isn't an option for you, reading a synopsis prior to reading each Book of the poem should be helpful for comprehension.

This definitely feels like the type of thing that I could see myself coming back to down the road.

Paradise Lost is a work which is divided into twelve sections. There are two stories or arcs within this poem that overlap in content and order. In the fashion of epic tradition, the poem starts in the middle of the story. The first arc deals with Lucifer/Satan and the fall of him and the disobedient angels. The other arc follows Adam and Eve, their temptation, and their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Other characters include God the Father, God the Son, and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The most interesting scenes in this poem to me are the battle scenes between Satan's angels and God's angels. It takes place over three days with both sides looking like they have a shot at winning. On the third day, Jesus intervenes and defeats Satan's angels on his own. I found this section interesting because it was told from several different perspectives. Satan is the ultimate villain in this poem and this world, but at least in the poem, we see reluctance and hesitation on his part before destroying things. What I especially liked about this edition is that the Arguments are at the beginning of each section. These Arguments serve as an introduction for each section and help lessen confusion for most readers, myself included.

Paradise Regained is the follow-up work to Paradise Lost. It is much shorter in length, comprising only four books as opposed to twelve. Unlike Paradise Lost, which deals primarily with Satan's interaction with Adam and Eve, Paradise Regained chronicles the Temptation of Christ in the desert, which is found in the Gospel of Luke. The writing style is also much plainer than the first work, in that it lacks long similes and the gilding of the lily. Most people agree that this "brief" poem primarily deals with reversals. Everything that was lost in the first book is now regained. We see two key traits in Milton's Satan - hunger for power and foolishness. This is true in real life as well. Satan tempted Jesus because he wanted to be God and in his mind the only way to do that was to make Jesus submit to him. He is foolish to think this would work though. I found this book to be good, but not as good as Paradise Lost. The reader, Anton Lesser, did a wonderful job with both narrations though. His soothing British voice was the perfect fit, and instead of just reading both poems, he gave the characters voices and life!

I am writing this because the five other reviews are about Paradise Lost, not about Alistair Fowler's edition of Paradise Lost. If you just want to read Paradise Lost, you do not need to pay $45.00 to do so. Most modern editions will have enough notes to get you through, and you can easily find inexpensive copies of such editions.

This one is quite a bit more thorough than that, and it is worth the money if you are someone who spends a lot of time in the notes. It's also very well bound, by the way -- the book is designed to take a lot of abuse.

It's a big, fat, heavy tome, and the notes often take up more space on the page than the poem does. An excellent resource for Milton fans -- probably a must-have for Milton fans -- but not the sort of thing most readers really need.

This is an epic poem, which you have to begin, reading, aloud. It will help your mind get used to the language. Also, have a large oxford dictionary with you. It will build your vocabulary. It is beautifully written, with great notes in the back, if you want deeper insight. It is an absolute joy to have this on my shelf. Just remember, you have to be familiar with biblical concepts, along with Homer and Virgil. Without this knowledge, you will be lost. As such, you need to have some basic knowledge of those concepts, before you read this, unless you want to scaffold yourself to kingdom come. If you have to use sparknotes, you are a shallow thinker, who deserves to be scorned. Don't be lazy. Challenge yourself.

“Paradise Lost” is one of the best known, and pivotal works in English literature. It is also one of the strangest. Listed in the Index Librorum Prohbitorum (the Catholic Church’s list of prohibited books), and published in 1667, it is as controversial now as it must have been back in the 17th century. It is an epic poem by John Milton. The poem is 12 books and is written in blank verse. Milton was one of the greatest poets of his time. The story follows the son of the dawn, Lucifer himself, and the events that follow after his fiery expulsion from the heavens with all his minions; his rise as ruler of hell, and his stealing into paradise - in the form of a serpent - to tempt Eve. Milton unabashedly designates the Satan (Lucifer) as the story’s hero in a literary move that unreservedly borders on the blasphemous; giving the devil lines as passionate as “awake, arise, or be forever fallen!” (when he is rallying all his followers); and “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Some have pointed to “Paradise Lost” as being an allegorical work, with parallels being drawn between the civil war of heaven (Satan raises a third of the angels in revolt against God) and the English people deposing their King. The backdrop to the time Milton spent composing this his greatest work, was the English Civil War and the eventual Execution of King Charles I. The work is a deep one, and is not for the faint of heart. Reading “Paradise Lost” is indeed an undertaking. It is full of symbolism, and little mysteries. It is a work to be pondered over by the scholar and layman alike - leaving the reader to ask the question “Why?”

While Joanna and Butch are at the annual Sheriff’s convention, Jenny has to go on a Girl Scout Camping trip she’d prefer to skip. It doesn’t help that, through the un-luck of the draw, she’s the tent-mate of a girl that smells, is abrasive and no one likes. But at lights out Dora wants to sneak a cigarette, getting Jenny to try one. So begins a disturbing set of events as the girls take a hike they know they shouldn’t and come across a dead woman whose murder is brutal enough to disturb even the medical examiner.

Lots of things are going on in the homefront too and there is plenty of anger and emotion to go around for a number of reasons. All of it is a learning experience for Joanna who must also decide if she wants to run for re-election and how it would affect her family.

Every once in a while it’s easy to guess the whodunit fairly early in the story, even as threads take you in different directions before revealing a much larger story. That’s not the case in this tale as the overworked/understaffed Sheriff’s department work three homicides. Joanna’s handling of capturing one of the murderers has her staff impressed with not only how she pulls off the last minute coordination from different departments, but her compassion in dealing with the perp’s needs; something you wouldn’t expect to see from others in her position.

More than an administrator, Joanna involves herself in every homicide, and since they’ve only got two detectives, she and her Chief Deputy are also taking on more of her detectives’ duties when investigations begin piling up. She’s in an interesting position as she’s learned about being a cop and a detective through being involved, and yet she’s able to see things from a different, sometimes larger perspective as she’s looking at both the forest and the trees.

Read from a library book.

A terrible battle has been waged, two great forces arrayed against one another, both composed of angelic beings. But the outcome is ordained, even before the first blow is struck. And the vanquished are cast from Heaven--despite the fact that their number includes a third of the heavenly host--to a new place, newly created by He who banished them from His sight. A little place known as Hell.

The Fallen Angels lie dormant for seven days, atop a burning lake, before they finally begin to come around. First to recover is their leader, Lucifer himself. And from the moment he regains consciousness, he is nothing but optimistic and determined.

The first order of business is... what now? So Lucifer calls a counsel of those who were cast out with him and presents what he sees as their options. One, they can stay where they are, and accept Hell as their new home. "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."

Secondly, they can crawl before God, ask to be taken back into Heaven... and then what? Sing his hosannas for all of eternity? And just exactly what will have changed? And why should they possibly want to do that?

Or door number three... Lucifer's intelligence tells him that God has decided to replace those whom he has cast aside, unhappy with what has occurred, and so he has decided to make a new creature, one he can lord over and accept this new being's songs and praises and whatnots. And this creature will be known as man. And what God has wrought, Lucifer can turn against him...

Paradise Lost is the story of the fall of Lucifer and his followers, and what came after. Lucifer persuades his followers that the third choice is the best, but of course, he cannot work his wiles upon Adam and Eve from a distance, and they are locked in Hell. Being Lucifer, he finds a way to flee his captivity. It doesn't hurt that standing guard at the gates of Hell are Sin (his daughter) and Death (his son/grandson).

From the moment he takes the stage, Lucifer is the dominant character in this book, without a doubt. With his take-charge, overcome everything attitude, he is the hero, despite any evidence to the contrary. He persuades his followers to agree to his course of action, and volunteers to be the one to go to Paradise and do what must be done, as no one else seems to be too eager to accept the task. Lucifer, alone among them, knows no fear, despite the fact that his path will be most perilous, even after he manages to exit Hell.

Why did Lucifer choose to defy God? Overweening pride? Hubris? Was it because he believed himself to be God's equal? Or was it a case of "sibling rivalry", when God placed his son, Jesus, at His side, as His right hand man, and instructed that everyone was to obey Jesus as they would Him, paving the way for him to inherit everything?

Lucifer had to know, going in, that everything was stacked against him, and yet he stood firm and he did it. That shows a great deal of faith in himself, a strong will, and a fierce determination. On the other hand, God knew everything beforehand, including the outcome. And He allowed it to happen. What sort of Supreme Being does that? Certainly not a loving one.

As Lucifer makes his way to Paradise, we join Adam and Eve. Their story is, to me, less interesting, because they are depicted as less interesting people. Adam is downright boring and Eve is too caught up in being in his shadow and can't seem to think for herself. The couple receives visits from God and from some of the angels. They tend their fruit. And they have sex. And Adam names animals. When Raphael visits Adam with news of the Rebellion, he describes it to him, at Adam's behest, in agonizingly longwinded detail. Some of the details he relates should not even be known to him, but even so, it is excruciatingly long and I felt like he'd never stop talking. And then, just as he winds up his tale, Adam hasto go and ask for more! I wanted to slap him! Then follows Adam's own boring story. All told, this part of the book was of less interest to me, despite being as well written as the other. But compared to Lucifer's story, all else pales in comparison.

And then, of course, comes the temptation, as Lucifer enters into the serpent and beguiles Eve into eating the tree of forbidden fruit. So, what was the point of putting that tree there to begin with? If it was off limits, why place is there? To test them? He had to know they were going to fail. And yet He permitted it. So it can be argued that God is as much the architect of Man's fate as Man is.

I loved this book from the beginning, loved the language that Milton used. And I loved this Penguin edition for being annotated, the notes serving to enhance the reading. It is beautifully written, and I'm the first to admit that I'm not big on reading poetry, but I loved it. There is strength and beauty in Milton's words, and he brings the story alive. My only complaint, other than being bored by Adam and Raphael, is that Lucifer's end in the story is almost an afterthought, and weakly written.

From the get-go, Lucifer makes no apology for being the way he is, and shows no intention of changing. "...but of this be sure, To do aught good will never be our task, But ever to do ill our sole delight, as being the contrary to his high will, Whom we resist."

He has a silver tongue and after allowing the others to have their say, he uses his words to convince them that his way is the best. Is there any doubt he would? That he would not suffer the judgment of fools to hold sway?

I had so many questions while I read this book, concerning God and Lucifer, and why each did what he did. Lucifer's motives are usually clearer than God's. It often felt like a huge set-up, a trap that mankind could not avoid, no matter what he did. There are those who argued that Eve's eating the apple was indicative of Free Will, that she and then Adam, made their choices? But did they really? If God knew all along that it would happen? Food for thought. You could debate the questions that arise from this book for a long time to come.

I never studied this book in school, so this was my first exposure to it, and I wasn't forced to read it. I loved it, thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and loved the insight it gave into familiar Bible tales. Next stop--Paradise Regained!

Written in 1667 Paradise Lost is an epic poem depicting the events of the Bible with an emphasis on Genesis Chapters Two and Three. The following is a list of events included in the narrative: God casting a prideful and arrogant Satan with one-third of the angels out of heaven, the creation of Adam and Eve, the deception of the serpent, the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and their subsequent removal from the Garden of Eden. The Son of God and the archangels Gabriel and Michael play major roles in the story. God's grace, wisdom, and love and Satan's pride, arrogance, and ambition are the major themes of this work. I will admit that this is not easy reading and I really had to focus to understand what was taking place in the narrative. Still, I did like this book a great deal with its rich vocabulary, vivid imagery, and many references to Near Eastern mythology, Egyptian mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, and classical literature.

People I admire have told me they consider Teskey a brilliant scholar, but what he has done with this Norton Critical Edition is a real disappointment. In short, the annotations, the ancillary texts, and the critical readings are all less helpful than the old Norton edition (edited by Scott Elledge). Elledge sometimes could be a bit pedantic, giving too many Latin etymologies and such. But Teskey has simply abandoned the original audience (first-time readers of Paradise Lost). He doesn't gloss such difficulties as "ravin," "all I," and the odd etymological use of "pontifical." He omits such indispensable ancillae as Elledge's 33-page selection from Milton's "On Christian Doctrine" (and also Doctrine & Discipline of Divorce, and much else). He takes the best critical readings (Lewalski, Fish) and cuts them down to excerpts too tiny to matter much.

That really concludes my argument against choosing Teskey. He also commits howlers in Latin, Greek ("Greek leukos also means joyful"), and English ("tradition" in X.578 construed as a verb; faulty modernizations like "condemn" for "contemn" in IX.306 and "shown" for "shone" in X.1096).

For a Norton Critical Edition (i.e., the extra primary and secondary texts), choose Elledge; its advantages in learning and help far outweigh any of its defects. Perhaps, though, the most helpful Paradise Lost edition for the target audience (first-time reader, well-annotated) is now David Scott Kastan's generous reworking of Merritt Hughes' edition.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady is out of town at a sheriff's convention with her new husband, Butch Dixon, when her daughter Jenny finds a murder victim's body in the desert back home. Jenny and her tentmate for a Girl Scouts outing, Dora Matthews (who is Jenny's tentmate thanks to the results of a drawing, not by choice), left their tent after lights out so Dora could have a smoke. Jenny accepted her first cigarette, and now the 12-year-old has to own up to her misbehavor in order to do the right thing by reporting the body. Her scout leader is furious, and sends both girls home. Not long afterward, Dora is dead - murdered, also - and Joanna fears that Jenny may be next.

The murder victim is a middle-aged woman who recently discovered that her husband - the man she married at 42, after spending her young womanhood caring for first one sick parent and then the other - spent all her money before disappearing. She vanished while rushing to meet him, when he finally phoned her from a remote "treatment facility" that may or may not be legitimately faith based. Joanna investigates, tries to keep her daughter safe, and rejoices as she reads the first draft of husband Butch's first novel. Butch struggles with his new role of otherwise unemployed writer and house-husband to Sheriff Brady, whose unpredictable and sometimes crazy work hours often leave him coping alone with family responsibilities and being stood up for appointments. It's not an easy time in Joanna's life, and her always difficult mother doesn't make it easier by disappearing and leaving her stepfather - who is also the county medical examiner, and therefore a key colleague - desperately worried.

This is what I like best about the series, the way author Jance weaves Joanna's personal and professional lives together into a realistic whole. Joanna's painful juggling act, and her guilt at not being able to do all of it in the way she'd like, is utterly realistic. I particularly enjoy watching as the now 30-something sheriff learns, by living her own life, to better understand why her mother and father behaved as they did when she was a child; and as Joanna sees herself in Jenny, since she was also a sheriff's daughter.

As for the mystery - good one, and well paced. I liked Jance's handling of the Dora Matthews thread, again because I found it totally credible. People do act that way in real life. Oh, yes, they most certainly do.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"

I didn't realize until I was well into this book that I'd read what was probably the first in the Joanna Brady series, but some significant changes in Joanna's life (the series story arc) threw me off balance because I hadn't read the intervening books. Unfortunately, Jance gave enough away about what happened in those in-between adventures that I'm not keen to read them. I'm not even sure why she revealed as much as she did as they didn't provide essential backstory or motivation....

I do appreciate her setting, having spent time there, which is why I picked up the book (and probably the earlier one as well).

That said, it was a good read, with an intriguing mystery, though with an ending an astute reader can probably see coming.

This book took me a long time to read. Three months to be exact. It's some seriously dense epic poetry. Some of Paradise Lost reminded me a lot of Tolkien's The Silmarillion, especially the lines about flames that produced darkness and the idea of Satan doing the opposite of God but God turns it to good anyway. It was hard to get used to the language, but once I did I really liked how Milton was able to use two meanings for a lot of words - the literal meaning and a figurative meaning. It was interesting that the story is mostly told through Satan's point of view and Milton makes him a sympathetic character. Satan is also very sarcastic. Is it wrong that I found him a little funny??

The first time I tried reading this book I gave up after about 20 pages because I didn't realize that the plot was simple and that there's an actual story going on. I thought the whole book was just deep random thoughts about the fall of Adam and Eve.

Another thing I found interesting was how Milton incorporated a lot of Greek mythology in the story. I'm starting to see why this book is so controversial. For example, Sin pops out of Satan's head and they become lovers. So Sin is his lover AND daughter. That is kind of similar to Athena's birth story.

Milton lists a lot of demons by name in Book I. One demon that really caught my eye was named Dagon and he was a mermaid. Did mermaids start out as demons!? That kind of blows my mind.

And then when, towards the end of Book I, all the demons have a council. It is more civil than any political debate I have ever heard. I found that so bizarre.

Overall, I don't think this is a very religious text (meaning that it teaches Christian doctrine). It's an interesting mythological twist on a bible story we all know. It was like Shakespeare meets the Bible. Honestly some parts of it really dragged, but I'm glad I read it. I feel very accomplished and a little more educated than I was before.

Paradise Regained is 50 pages long. It's kind of like an epilogue that shows how Christ defeats Satan. It's not as good as Paradise Lost and it's anti-climactic. It's skippable.

Paradise Lost is a fascinating and beautiful read; I often found myself quietly reading verses aloud because they seemed too melodic not to be spoken. In addition to Milton’s fantastic use of language, the envisioning of Lucifer’s fall from heaven, and subsequently Adam and Eve’s loss of Eden, was extremely powerful and intriguing.

Milton humanizes Satan in a way no one had ever done before. He makes a deliberate choice to begin his narrative depicting the aftermath of the rebel angels’ fall, with Satan filling the role of a reassuring leader, and displaying many of qualities of an archetypical hero. Of all the characters, Satan is the most relatable. He is imperfect, prone to jealousy and anger, but also expresses extreme regret that he cannot be redeemed, concluding, “...never can true reconcilement grow / Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep…” (Milton 87). God and his angels are infinitely good, which makes it difficult to connect and sympathize with them on a personal level. They are otherworldly - far beyond humanity. Adam and Eve, before they eat the forbidden fruit, are similarly lacking of the internal conflict in turmoil that characterizes what humans are today. It is only after they fall do they begin to emulate a more nuanced humanity.

I highly recommend this epic poem to anyone who is interested in religious lore and/or angels and demons sassing one another in Old English.

In poetic genius, Milton is the only English poet who could seriously rival Shakespeare. As they both were from around the same time period, they use similar language. But in style and substance, the two are worlds apart. Milton is epic in scale, taking the reader from the pit of Hell, through unformed Chaos, past Earth, all the way up to Heaven. Shakespeare has his feet firmly planted in human affairs; for him, a lazy afternoon conversation contains the entire universe. Milton gathers the world into himself, melts it down, and reforges it. Shakespeare's mind travels through the world like a phantom, imbuing it with his own spirit, becoming everything at once but remaining himself nonetheless.

For those who wish to experience perhaps the best tragic character ever conceived - rivaling Oedipus, Faust, Hamlet, Captain Ahab, and King Lear - read this book. Milton's psychological portrait of Satan is one of the most compelling of any character, ever. And with some of the finest poetry in English thrown in, you get your money's worth.

But, be warned, this book is difficult. Milton is one of the most educated writers of all time; his reading was vast and deep. The language, dense; the references, many; the journey, nigh endless. But it is one that you will remember fondly. In Milton's own words: "Long is the way and hard, that out of hell leads up to light." But when it is over, you will perhaps discover that the journey was a paradise.

I read this epic poem the last semester of my undergraduate degree, as it was assigned reading, and our class used this particular Norton Critical Edition. This epic poem is beautifully written, as Milton attempted to recreate what happened in the legendary Garden of Eden, fleshing out the bare bones details given in the Book of Genesis. However, I argue that he got a few details dead wrong. Whether you take this story literally or allegorically, there are glitches in Milton's retelling that deserve to be acknowledged. (Although I do believe the basic events actually did happen, I fully acknowledge that the story seems to be pushing our suspension of disbelief to the limits---1,000 year lifespans, deadly sibling rivalry, talking snakes, enchanted fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, etc. A friend once read a book called Marking Time, and he said that the book theorizes that time was measured differently back then, where a few seasons would be considered a full year, so that may in part account for the extraordinarily long lifespans of the Genesis characters. For the record, I also believe that Darwin's Evolution preceded these events by billions of years: Adam and Eve were certainly not the first human beings to inhabit planet Earth, but rather the first human beings to know God in such a way that God got the proverbial ball rolling in what I surmise was his plan to intercede in human events. I'm a logical person, so it's especially hard for me to wrap my head around the discrepancy between science and the Book of Genesis---my fundamentalists friends tell me I'm an "accommodationist," i.e., someone who believes in both Evolution and that the basic events of Genesis actually did happen (though perhaps Noah's flood was on a more localized scale contained to Mesopotamia). Although I believe that the basic outline of Genesis somehow did happen, I am not a fundamentalist and think that we need to use caution when interpreting an ancient, and at times, errant text.)

While Milton's extolling of Eve's beauty is highly flattering and any woman would love to be thus praised, he came to false conclusions about her. He wrongfully assumes she is unintelligent because she is impulsive and gave heed to the serpent's tale. Adam is forewarned of this apparent intelligence flaw in Milton's rendition. I am very impulsive myself (one of my worst characteristics, and I do not have a credit card--only a bank debit card--because I know I can't handle one with my "shopaholic" issues), and I can attest that impulsiveness and intelligence are not interchangeable concepts. I can understand why he came to his false conclusion, but it is sexist to assume that God would create the man to be brilliant and gorgeous in form and the woman to be none-too-bright. (Of course, there were no gender studies in Milton's time and men were assumed to be the more intelligent gender.) Furthermore, Eve was misinformed herself. She thought that if she merely touched the fruit she would die. That is not what God said. God said if you eat the fruit you shall die. Somehow, Eve got that detail confused. Whether Adam told her they were forbidden to touch or eat the fruit, or if she misunderstood what God or Adam said, or simply exaggerated to emphasize that they were to have nothing to do with the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, I don't know. So when she held the fruit and didn't instantly perish, that might have further confused her and lent credence to the serpent's tale. One of my friends once said that Eve was curious, and that was her motivation. Why was the fruit forbidden? It looked as lovely as the other fruit, and what would happen if she did eat it? I think between impulsiveness and curiosity, my friend got it right. I also think that she was curious about how it would taste, and that this might have been a secondary motivation in why she ended up eating it. I highly doubt that Eve was forewarned about the serpent as Milton described, so it would completely confuse and surprise her if someone was telling her to do the exact opposite of what she was told not to do. None of the other animals had speech, so why was the snake able to verbalize? Who should she listen to? What did it mean to have knowledge of both good and evil? Unfortunately, Eve was about to find out and would be made to suffer the consequences thereafter, as I argue that God overreacted to her mistake and over-punished her in particular of all of the characters involved in the Garden of Eden story. On the surface, it would seem that her punishment is not too extreme--painful childbirth, an urge for her husband, whether or not he reciprocates it, and enmity with the serpent, yet the implications of that curse are far-reaching, and perhaps God didn't spell out in that Genesis passage all of the ways she would be made to suffer because of that impulsive mistake.

Another detail Milton got wrong (which isn't merely interpretive like the above paragraph) is that he arranges for Eve to be alone when she is tempted, and as he characterizes her without advanced critical thinking skills, she is a sitting duck. Au contraire. Adam was with Eve the whole time she was being tempted. It specifically states in Genesis that Adam was with Eve. She didn't wander off, eat the apple, and then urge her husband to do the same. He didn't self-sacrifice himself because he didn't want to be separated from her, though I acknowledge that is a highly romantic take on the events (reminiscent of U2's song, "The Fly"). As another friend said, he could have prevented her, yet he was probably confused as well and thought that if the woman who was given to him (after he complained that the little animals were not a fit companion) considered it a good idea to eat the apple, then it probably was an okay thing to do and trusted her judgment. I also read in one of Dr. Perricone's books about nutrition and clear skin that the forbidden fruit may have been a pomegranate instead of an apple. My brother once said something so strange when he was a teenager that I still remember it. He said that Adam and Eve got sick after they ate the fruit. That isn't specified in either Genesis or Paradise Lost. In Paradise Lost, Adam feels lust for Eve instead of pure love for the first time. My brother made it sound like they vomited after they ate the apple/pomegranate or at least got a severe stomach ache. How my brother would know this detail or intuit it is another story for another day.

Another detail that Milton got wrong is that Eve would have tempted herself. Bear with me, as the following argument will be an unprecedented and contentious claim. In a NIV version of the Bible, I happened to open up to a page that read, "Venus wanted to be like God," or words to that effect. That can be interpreted that Eve tried to be like God in desiring to have knowledge of both good and evil. Others have interpreted that passage as a reference to the fall of Lucifer or Satan's rebellion. In the original Hebrew Bible, there is barely any mention of Lucifer, though the rewritten, highly interpolated Christian Bible is another matter. Lucifer was the god of the morning star in Greek mythology, and the Hebrew Bible may have adopted this concept from the intersecting Greek and Roman cultures; furthermore, the planet Venus is referred to as the morning star. The goddess Venus is the Roman goddess of beauty and love, and Eve and Venus have often been conflated. This can be reinterpreted that Eve and Venus are one in the same person, with the name Lucifer nothing but a misreading and deliberately misleading red herring. I argue that the real serpent was another person altogether, with this original identity theft being reminiscent of the R.E.M. song, "I Took Your Name." So bumper stickers that read, "Eve was framed" are extremely accurate and painfully ironic. Though Hitler was wrong about almost everything, he is quoted as saying something that unfortunately rings true, "The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." The further something is from the actual truth, the more people will go along with it until they finally know better in the eleventh hour. This big lie would describe blaming Eve for everything, when really she's only guilty of impulsiveness, poor judgment, curiosity, and listening to the wrong person. Yet the big lies can only exist for so long, as the Burmese have a proverb that promises, "Even if the truth is buried for centuries, it will eventually come out and thrive." So, this translates into the promise that the misrepresented, inverted Eve will be acquitted in due course, along with anyone else who has ever received a raw deal and unjust accusation. Niels Borh had a similar insight to the Burmese: "In the long run it is far more dangerous to adhere to illusion than to face what the actual fact is."

There are some mystical forms of Judaism and Christianity that identify Adam and Abraham as reincarnations of the same person and Eve and Sarah as the same woman. It would be strange for God to give both couples the role of "parents," as God promises Abraham that he will be the father of a multitude when he alters his name from Abram and Sarah the mother of nations (Eve similarly was described as the mother of all of the living, and we can assume that Adam had a symmetrical role as the father of all of the living). Similar to Milton's excessive ode to Eve's beauty, Sarah was also described as having been so strikingly beautiful that even at 60-something she caught the eye of the Pharaoh; she may have looked exactly the same as when she was Eve if the women are reincarnations of each other and that would account for Sarah's beauty. (Some people also believe that Mary Magdalene and Eve are the same woman---Dan Brown hints at this in his blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, and I appreciate that he captured the detail of her coloring, as Mary Magdalene is almost always depicted as having flowing, long red hair in art history and even the earliest representations of her from early Christian art show drawings of her with long red hair. Also, I think it's significant that she used her hair to dry her tears instead of her clothing---her hair must have been particularly beautiful and unique for her to have done that. There's even a slightly coarse joke about Eve related to her coloring: Did you know that Eve was a natural redhead? Yes, she gave a preview of the Burning Bush. Eve is also often portrayed as a beautiful redhead in Western art, as somehow the great masters intuited her coloring.) Abraham had to tell half truths about his relationship with Sarah so that he would not be murdered on account of Sarah's standout beauty when he and Sarah entered Egypt. They were half brother and sister but also husband and wife, as Adam and Eve are full brother and sister and husband and wife if you think about it. Normally, not a good idea for siblings to marry, but this particular couple is the exception to the rule. (I personally think that Hagar was the serpent's reincarnation and Cain the reincarnation of her better half, i.e., her co-serpent/accomplice---which would account for why he was so disrespectful and surly despite having loving parents and murdered his own brother over a petty jealousy of a preferred sacrifice---though he probably did not fully intend to murder his brother and didn't realize how much force Abel could withstand. The curse of enmity between Eve and the serpent would account for Hagar's insolent attitude towards Sarah and Sarah's retaliation if these characters have been reincarnated. I doubt too many people would ascribe to this "reincarnation" theory (though reincarnation is considered a matter of course in many cultures). However, if you listen to the lyrics of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's song "Sir Psycho Sexy," Cain is described as a devil, though that is a hurtful and loaded word---calling him a disrespectful stinker in his worst moments will suffice. One of the things that I take issue with in the Bible is its tendency to use abusive descriptive language that is often wide of the mark, vindictive, and uncompassionate. I'll say it now, and I'll say it again, "Some of the Bible is true, and some of it isn't." That said, it was incredibly mean-spirited of the co-serpents to manipulate Eve and then during their collective lives, manage to frame her (and for God to enable them to do so). The video version of the song, "Don't Speak" from No Doubt is a tribute to the Garden of Eden story, with the forbidden fruit, spoiled with maggots, being put back on the tree, and therefore, in this revisionist version, uneaten. Regardless of whether these characters have been reincarnated and reappeared in other Genesis/Biblical stories, I don't think Milton knew the whole story, though I give him full credit for writing a beautiful, though at critical points, inaccurate, retelling of the Garden of Eden story in his epic poem. Although I guess the basic outline of this story somehow actually did happen, it does sound more like a fairy tale, the stuff of soap operas with a Harry Potter twist---so dramatic and implausible sounding. I still can't wrap my head around it, and it's beyond mind-boggling. If I hadn't had certain experiences that permanently altered my world view, I wouldn't literally believe a word of it and would consider it to be allegorical.

"Paradise Lost" by John Milton is the definitive English epic poem (even if it does not always read like one). Much more a dramatic tragedy, Milton's extension of the biblical story of the Fall of both Satan and mankind is timeless. For while Milton may have woven the politics of his own time in regards to tyrannical kings and their heroic counterparts into the battle between heaven and hell, it is a situation that lends itself to any century.

Many critics have often thought the 'problem' with "Paradise Lost" was the fact that Satan seems like the epic hero - the reader immediately begins identifying himself with Satan and rooting for him in his fight against God, an uneasy feeling to be sure. However, as the course of the poem unfolds, Satan's true tragic nature reveals itself and the reader can marvel in Milton's keen ability to bring to life Heaven, Hell, and Paradise (the Garden of Eden). The epic begins in Hell with the fallen angel now known as Satan rousing his troops into further rebellion against God, but the only action they can take is to pollute his newfound paradise and its brand new inhabitants, Adam and Eve. Satan undertakes the journey to spy out the land and learn how to tempt these two to sin. And while he is successful in his attempt to do so, it is a victory that gains Satan no glory, since he does not understand that he can never truly win against God.

Milton set out to answer the question of what (or who) caused Adam and Eve to sin, tracing some of the blame away from Satan and examining the relationship between Adam and Eve in the garden. Milton perhaps raises more questions than he does offer any answers, but that is partly what makes "Paradise Lost" a mirror that still reflects today. Milton includes numerous classical allusions that readers of his day would be familiar with, as well as biblical accounts (including apocryphal works) to flesh out the barebones structure of the biblical account in Genesis. While parts of the poem can be tedious (especially the seemingly somewhat unnecessary books 11 and 12), "Paradise Lost" is a true masterpiece of literature that should be required reading for everyone, regardless of any religious preferences, for at its heart it is an examination of what it means to be.

This is a dense, imaginative book, an only-book-to-take-with-me-on-a-deserted-island kind of book. Although the story is mainly based on Christian mythology, it is just as appealing for atheists because Milton mixes Christian and classical mythology and thereby shows the roots of Western culture. It is no wonder that William Blake was so inspired to draw his fantastic art fitting this text. The book's extreme patriarchal views, bearing on repugnant misogyny in some places, will disturb some readers. This issue has nothing to do with the aesthetics of the book, but modern readers would have difficulty ignoring it.

Readers are advised to find an edition with detailed and directly adjacent annotations in order to appreciate what Milton is up to in each word, line and book (chapter). There is much below the surface. And yet at times one should just read on and let the art wash over in waves. This is a good way to take on Milton's torturously contorted sentences or to deal with some of the ancient-sounding names that Milton made up for effect. Knowing Milton's biography also helps: the story is also about his frustration with the English who gave up much of their hard-earned liberty after the English Civil War. The circumstances under which Milton created his classic epic were dramatic: after having led a colourful life and helping to lead the English Republic, he was a poor, blind pariah who dictated his prose. Homer is also thought to have transmitted his epic orally.

The following paragraph is a citation from Northrop Frye in the edition that he introduces (Rinehart Editions, 1951): Most Renaissance critics regarded the epic as a greater form than tragedy: this fact is to be connected with the humanist sense ... of the encyclopaedic range of knowledge to be derived from the study of the classics. For the difference between an epic and an ordinary narrative poem lies chiefly in the encyclopaedic quality of the epic. The epics of Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton are vast syntheses of the religious, philosophical, political and even scientific ideas: they integrate not only the poet's own thinking but the whole culture of their times. An epic of this sort can only be written in an age which possesses some kind of encyclopaedic vision. For Milton, the humanist synthesis of knowledge was in its turn contained within Christianity. The Bible, as Milton saw it, transcends all secular knowledge, but comprehends it too, and it is also encyclopaedic, though on a far bigger scale. ... Traditionally, too, the theme of the epic is heroic action, and all the conventional features that Milton takes over from the Classical epic--the similes, the battles, the set speeches, the invocation to Muses, the councils of gods and leaders--are concerned essentially with this theme.

For Milton, Christ is the hero of this epic, despite Milton's wooden portrayal of him. Satan is only a mock-hero, but is more interesting. Harold Bloom perceives Milton's Satan as comparable to and inspired by Shakespeare's great baddies. Frye writes: "Satan is the haughty Achilles, the crafty Ulysses, the knight-errant who achieves the perilous quest of chaos, and all through the first four books he is surrounded with the rumors and the panoply of war." Because his heroism is based on pride, Satan is doomed "and merely by the compulsion of obeying his own nature, is forced to become more and more debased. By the time he has got himself disguised as a talking snake and is congratulating himself on catching Eve alone with the man of the house away, the sombre Promethean rebel of the opening books seems remote." But for Milton, Christianity is deadly serious, so Satan is never comical but a constant threat to man.

Paradise Lost resonates, deep and wide. As literature it could conceivably have been effective even if it had been based on a mythology other than that of Christianity, but for readers sharing Milton's Western culture, another mythology is unlikely to have achieved such deep resonance. There is no doubt that the Bible's short creation story was extended with much fantasy and mythologized in popular perception by the medieval Church, but on reading this book one wonders to what degree the popular story was further extended and mythologized by just one individual, John Milton. Furthermore, Milton was perhaps the top creator of English neologisms (over 600, much more than Shakespeare). For a thoughtful analysis of how deeply the "Edenic narrative" has effected us, see William Cronon's anthology "Uncommon Ground".

Paradise Lost is the ninth in J. A. Jance's amazing series of novels chronicling the exploits of Joanna Brady, the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. I have read the first nine in sequence and I can report that they become more interesting with each one. I believe this is the case because the author is exceptionally skilled at weaving the events that unfold in Joanna's life and those of her friends, relatives, and coworkers with those of the case or cases that grab her professional attention. In this book, for example, several murders occur in the county that might or might not be connected to a series of carjackings happening to provide vehicles for coyotes to use to transport UDAs (undocumented aliens) from Mexico into the U.S. So, Jance does a fabulous job of keeping several plot lines in motion all the way to the as-usual unpredictable conclusion. The members of Joanna's family are integral to the plot. Jenny is continuing on toward teenagehood, already indicating that she is at least open to developing habits that will cause her mother heartache; one such experiment is what looks as though it might put the 12-year-old in danger. Joanna's nosy mother also manages to become involved in a matter that should not concern her, with disastrous results. The still relatively pristine husband is moving along in his own life as an author in the making and also in drawing up plans for a new house on the ranch property left to Joanna by her now-deceased neighbor in an earlier novel, if he could just manage to have his wife actually make an appointment with the architect. One of the plot lines involves a client at a treatment center close to Paradise, which center some have said might be a cult. While investigating this possibility, the scene shifts to the area of Cochise County between the Chiracahua Mountains and the Arizona-New Mexico border. Here also lies a wide spot in the road called Portal, which is close to the facilities of the Southwestern Research Station, operated by the American Museum of Natural History. This famous research station has been the home base for several AMNH herpetologists (herpetology is my field also) during the summer months when they carried out field research and offered college-level field courses. So, once again, I am charmed by being able to visit (at least in the pages of this novel) one of those locales I traveled to during my dissertation research in the American Southwest 45 years ago. I highly recommend this entry in the series, but don't forget to start with the first eight. It will be a lot more fun...

Jance seems to always write an interesting story but she sometimes seems to lack adequate ability to create suspense and falls back on hackneyed means, such as a false assumption of infidelity based on gut feeling and misinterpreting chance situations. In "Paradise Lost" Cochise county sheriff Joanna Brady jumps to two wrong conclusions, one involving her husband Butch Dixon and the other the danger to her daughter, Jenny. Also, as a cop, she sees danger where none is involved so she sees a gun in an unarmed woman's possession. She works out her differences with Butch after calling Marianne Maculyea and remembering her father's advice, "Don't run from a fight." Joanna is always jumping to wrong conclusions, Jance has her doing so repeatedly. Now I have begun to accept that as part of Jance's style and expect it, but I was fooled again on Ron Haskell. I guess it was necessary to give flavor to the book.
The punk kid, Chris Bernard, did not seem to fit the stereotype of someone with body piercings and woeful hair coloring but that was not too bad except for his facing up to authority and defying it. Connie Haskell is given short shrift after the prologue, she is just a murder victim, the carjackings occurring at this time seems little more than spacefilling, shorting the deputies available for other duties and showing how short-handed Joanna was but adding nothing to the plot. Those are my main objections, trim them and the book would shrivel to a short story. So leave them in and see how the book reads. It is not bad.

I avoided this challenge for years before I undertook this reading. But it is worth the time to decode the story through the gorgeous words. It's not even re!event whether one believes a word of it. It's just amazing that a human is capable of such a composition.

Most any list of Great Works of Literature is almost certain to contain this epic (and I do mean epic – 415 pages worth in my edition) poetic masterpiece by John Milton. Many have called this the greatest long poem in the English language. All the more fascinating to realize that Milton wrote this as a blind man – dictating in the early mornings to an amanuensis.

Paradise Lost is, of course, a free verse interpretation of the Biblical account of the fall of man, through Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and sin, and their tragic judgment and banishment from the Garden. Milton vividly describes the majesty and righteousness of God, the spiritual battle with Satan and his fallen angelic host, and the coming redemption through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Milton clearly was a great student of Scripture, and his Protestant theology was in most respects typical for the times in which he lived, though not nearly as Calvinistic as one might suspect. He also had a few somewhat unorthodox beliefs, which don’t really detract from the overall epic – though his somewhat Arian view of the Son of God is the most controversial.

Milton’s depth of learning is profound, and Paradise Lost is rich with references and allusions to the Classics. Be prepared – the richness of his style requires slow, careful reading, and some degree of familiarity with the Biblical account of the Fall is very helpful. Even though this is a dense, deep work, I think its well worth the effort. You just don’t see passages like this, much, anymore:

“(God) stooping opened my left side, and took from thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm ..
But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed: the rib he formed and fashioned with His hands
Under His forming hands a creature grew, manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, that what
seemed fair in all the world seemed now .. in her summed up, in her contained, and in her
looks, which from that time infused sweetness into my heart, unfelt before”
(Adam, recounting to the archangel Raphael the creation of Eve)

I have maybe a half-dozen editions of "Paradise Lost."

Whenever I need to reread it quickly, I pick up the Signet Classic edition. It's got to be my favorite.

There are more thorough editions, certainly. But the thing I like about the Signet edition is that it's got this whole Goldilocks thing going on with the footnotes. Not too few, not too many.

In the text, words and phrases that are glossed at the bottom of the page have a little circle (a degree sign) next to them. You look down if you need to; if you don't, you keep reading. I like this because many editions don't indicate in the running text when something has a gloss: one must flip to the back of the book to hunt this out for oneself.

Additionally, there are not so many footnotes that they clutter up half (or more) of the page: I'm sure you're familiar with this sight.

Originally this was edited by Christopher Ricks (of Cambridge). In addition to the bibliography, chronology, and footnotes, he also wrote a short introduction. That unremarkable introduction has now been supplanted by one done by Susanne Woods, to which I am also indifferent.

The Signet edition also fits snugly in your hand, as other, meatier editions do not.

Too bad the store buries this edition in the back pages. I had to hunt around a while before I could find it!

There are some deep and difficult ideas about Good, Evil, and the nature of man contained in this work. It's a real thinker, I am not sure that I would recommend this book to everyone, as I think that some familiarity with the big ideas that this book is wrestling with to make any sense of the work.

Still, if you are looking to expand your understanding of humanity's relationship with Good, Evil, Malice and Grace you would have a hard time finding a better book that this.

As an aside, the book is written as an epic poem similar in form to the Iliad, I found that for particularly difficult to parse or understand passages it helped to read the poem aloud.

Recently, I read PL during my morning walks. Often aloud, it went surprisingly fast--about half a book
per day, completed in a month. Of course, so many of the allusions, even with good footnotes and a lifetime of reading and a Ph.D. in 17C English lit, remain solidly beyond me, in a sempiternal world of classical and biblical allusion. But I read with the recognition that such allusions function as validating linkages, rather like real links online, or like Mercedes for the insecure.
This may be my fifth time through it in entirety, and I have taught principally Book 9, Adam and Eve,
maybe two dozen times. Everytime through I discover a few lines that surprise me. This time, just after my retirement, I found a line I've been quoting to my still-working colleagues: "To sit in hateful Office, here confined...." This is Sin at the gates of Hell, early on in the poem, in the first three books.
I have in my memory perhaps 15 minutes of Paradise Lost, including "Men called him Mulciber, and how he fell/ Was fabled, thrown...." Wish I had more, as I do with Yeats, Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare, and Dickinson (about an hour each). The organ voice of Milton's verse. The stone incisions of Yeats and Dickinson.

Paradise Lost

Sheriff Joanna Brady is another of my favorite crime solvers, but in Paradise Lost she's a prime example of why I would never attempt to write about a crime solver who is married and has a child. In this novel Brady is newly married to Butch Dixon, her second husband, and her daughter Jenny is now 12 years old. Both are struggling a bit with issues that are the result of being married to or the daughter of a county sheriff.

This story begins with Joanna and Butch attending an Arizona Sheriff's Association convention. She is sneaking back into their room at the hotel at 1 am after playing poker with other sheriffs and beating her least favorite one out of about $700. Butch understands but later admits the convention was difficult for him as the only husband of a sheriff. Wives of course have gone through this since the Stone Age but it's different for a guy.

Then Jenny has problems camping with the Girl Scouts and trying to be just one of the kids. Then she and her pup tent mate find a body and the plot is off and running and so is Joanna. It's one of those novels that leaves you breathless because it goes so fast, there's so much danger, and Joanna is also dealing with family issues.

By the way, Joanna's mother, Eleanor, is the most aggravating character ever devised by a novelist. I'd say more but you just have to meet her yourself.

Actually that's the best feature of Jance's novels - the characters. They're unique and they're understandable in their lives and their actions, if a little quirky at times but aren't we all? The characters are really busy in this tale with a short-handed sheriff's department, three murders, and a lot of miles to cover during the investigation. Meanwhile, Butch is in the wedding of one of his former employees, Jenny is upset, Eleanor is very upset, and Joanna needs to be in about three places at once. What a crazy mess, but of course it all tends to work out.

I can't tell you any more without spoiling the book for you, except that a recurring theme is motherhood. I hope you'll read this one. It's a keeper.

As an A level teacher of twenty years' standing who remembers the first thrill of discovering Milton as an undergraduate, I was today appalled when I received this... pamphlet? Leaflet? Over-priced at a RRP of £7.25 and currently available "discounted" at the store UK for £6.71, it is a cheap and nasty A5 booklet in the worst quality paper with a cover about as inviting as a microwave instruction booklet. (No; I take that back: modern marketing wouldn't allow any electrical goods to be as undersold as England's greatest epic poet.) With heavy heart, I recalled the pleasure of purchasing my big Longman annotated edition and thought, "Has it come to this?" Book One of this majestic work is reduced to 26 pages of text sandwiched by stuff like "How to pass the exam" and "Assessment Objectives". OK; the notes and textual annotations are useful and I can well imagine the beleaguered A level student or the inexperienced NQT with a DWM poetry phobia seizing upon it gratefully, but what about the teacher who wishes to instil in his students his same admiration for the Miltonic mighty line? It's so functional, dispiriting and anti-educational that it sets my teeth on edge and neatly encapsulates everything utilitarian and Philistine about the current educational Zeitgeist. I'll do my best to counteract its subliminal message, but every time I pick up this mini-travesty I'll feel less like an educator and more like a purveyor of self-help manuals. Anyone for "How to Pass A level in Three Easy Steps" or "Literature Without Tears"? Milton must be spinning like a top in his grave.

When John Milton set out to write Paradise Lost, he had every intention of writing a masterpiece of the English language. He felt he was destined for greatness, and his creation does not disappoint. With over 9000 lines of some of the greatest poetry every written, Milton does an incredible job of using classical and biblical allusions within a classical format to create a surprisingly modern and incredibly poignant look at the nature of God and man. Add on to this the fact that he was blind when he composed it, and you cannot call PL anything less than a work of genius.

What separates this version from all the others available? The incredibly detailed work of the editors. The annotations of this edition are absolutely fantastic. They are plentiful (sometimes taking up as much as half a page), extremely informative, and surprisingly fun to read. Most annotated works such as this merely clarify antiquated vocabulary, but in this case the editors point out classical allusions, references to current events, and references to Milton's prose works. In addition to the prose and poetry associated with the text, the editors routinely mention the critical discourse (of which there is an unholy amount) associated with Milton. There are even moments where I laughed out loud at their comments. There is also a subtle touch to the annotations, in that there is no indication of annotations within the line. What I mean by this is that there are no bubbles or footnote marks in the body of the poem. The annotations at the bottom of the page simply point to a line number. This allows the reader to ignore the annotations if they choose to do so.
Another nice characteristic of this edition is the artwork and illustrations included. There's some really fantastic stuff in there.

All in all, this is an excellent edition of an excellent poem.

I have read "Paradise Lost" four times, and took no less than three semesters on it at university. This was the edition we used to work. Modernised spelling, coherent punctuation (plus variations of it in the notes), good introduction, and enormous work in the notes; this edition has all you need for a good reading of the epic poem.

As to the poem itself, some people are hard on it for all the wrong reasons. Remember that it is a 17th century poem, that English was not exactly similar as it is today, and that there are many, many words which were first used in English in "Paradise Lost". Milton was innovative with words, and he gave English new words, and expressions, such as the most famous "all Hell broke loose", which was first uttered in "Paradise Lost".

A poem like this cannot be read without good notes, and this is what this edition has to offer. Notes aren't enough, though, they have to be good, and in this edition, they are. The poem itself is not burdened by the numbers of the notes, because there are so many, the editor decided not to show them in the text per se, but at the end of the book, you will always have the reference, the lines, which the notes are about.

As to the poem itself, if you don't know it, you certainly know of the story of the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve, and the rebellion of Satan in Heaven. I'll only say that Milton's God is one seriously problematic figure in the poem, and that it caused centuries of academic discussion as to whether Milton's God is a good God or a devilish one, whether "Paradise Lost" was truly a "myth", in the old sense of a story which explains why we're here and how it got to be, or whether it was an attack on Christianity. Scholars still discuss this today, so make your own mind if you can!

One might call this Genesis fan fiction, but it's one of the most influential epic stories ever written. You'd be hard pressed to find anything in literature that hasn't been influenced by Milton's work. The thing I've always loved most is how in this story, Satan can be interpreted as both the protagonist and the antagonist.

I have read this book several times over the years. It's one of the greats! I agree with the author that he was inspired by God because many spiritual truths are revealed in a unique way. But the story remains true to the Holy Scriptures.

Don't be put off by a few pages in the very beginning where the author establishes his classical bona fides. This was just an old practice. It will take the reader a little while to get used to the language; but after a while it will scarce be noticed.

I have been a fan of J.A. Jance since I met her in a bookstore browsing through the mystery section. She convinced me to try one of her books, which I did, and loved it. She had also told me that she would soon start a new series - that was many years ago and I've been enthralled with each new book since the Joanna Brady series began. These books usually leave you turning pages as fast as you can read, but this one wasn't quite that captivating. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good, just not the excellence I've come to expect from Jance's writing.

This is the ninth novel featuring Joanna Brady, a tough Arizona sheriff who enchants her way into the reader's hearts. In the last novel, Devil's Claw we leave Joanna as she's honeymooning with her new husband Butch, after having her home destroyed by a maniac. Paradise Lost picks up shortly thereafter.

Joanna is once again caught in the struggle to maintain balance between being sheriff, being a new wife, and being a mother to a 12-year-old. While Joanna and Butch are at a sheriff's conference across the state, Joanna's daughter, Jenny, goes on a Girl Scout campout. Jenny and another girl, Dora Matthews, sneak off after lights out only to find trouble in a big way. They stumble across a dead body. Because the girls were breaking rules, they are sent back to Bisbee while the sheriff's department investigates this murder in Apache Pass.

When Dora Matthews, turns up dead the next day, Joanna is worried about Jenny's safety and the balance between the various hats she wears comes tumbling down around her. Added to this second murder, is a third murder - the body of the prime suspect in the first murder turns up. Three deaths in a matter of four days are more than Bisbee has ever seen and it's up to Joanna to help solve them.

The end of Paradise Lost is predictable and not one of the better suspenseful conclusions that Jance has created in the past. J.A. Jance has always tied up the loose ends, but this time she leaves one flapping in the gentle Arizona breeze. The subplot involving a series of carjackings is never fully developed and leaves much to be desired by the reader. She eludes to this subplot several times, but there is no meat to it and nothing ever comes of it - no tie in to the murders, no interesting side journey, just a passing mention every once in a while.

And a low point in this book was Joanna's wavering attitude towards her overbearing mother, Eleanor. She finds neutral ground and "understands" her mother. I didn't buy it - it was too passe for me. Joanna wouldn't buy into the poor, poor me bit, the martyrdom, that her mother is excellent at portraying. But this time she does and it is very anti-climatic - I wanted a good, old fashioned tongue lashing that we've come to expect when these two clash.

The one thing that is decided in this book is Joanna Brady will run for reelection as Cochise County Sheriff. I'm sure the next book in this series will encompass the campaigning and how it affects Butch and Jenny. It should be interesting.

This sprawling mystery has a soap opera feel to it. Sheriff Joanna Brady doesn't just solve crimes. She is newly remarried, mother of a sensitive 12-year old daughter, has an irritating mother, and what looks to be a househusband. I felt the walls of resistance rising against slogging through this type of story. But Ms. Jance is an experienced spinner of tales, and I became involved almost in spite of myself.
Joanna's daughter and tent mate discover a brutally murdered woman while at a Girl Scout camp out. The girls snuck away after to lights out to smoke cigarettes and encountered a body instead. For a while there, I didn't know which caused more consternation; the discovery of the body or sneaking smokes. But when the daughter's tent mate is found dead in suspicious circumstances, things heat up. Joanna's understaffed department is confronted with a possible serial killer, a car jacker, and the daughter's safety. While the serial killer plot is fairly transparent, the death of the 13-year old tent mate is not. Ms. Jance does an excellent job of unfolding clues and motives perfectly paced and well placed.
The author's strength is in her story telling abilities and her obvious love of the desert locale. Her weaknesses are dialogue and male characters with as many dimensions as volleyball. The husband is a marvel of patience and understanding, her chief deputy is robotically perfect at following orders and her former father-in-law is a lovable old geezer. Too much of the book takes place in a car. Apparently Sheriff Brady does not believe in phones (though she is forever on her cell phone), faxes or even inquiring as to whether someone is at home before sending half her staff whizzing across state while she takes off in the other direction. But even with these shortcomings, the story moves along and keeps the reader engaged. I think "Paradise Lost" would be a good Young Adult selection.
-Sweetmolly-the store.com Reviewer

to her heroine in the Joanna Brady series. Brady, the sheriff of Cochise County not only solves some pretty tough crimes with a lot of personal involvement in this novel, she has a new emotional mix to balance. With her new marriage and a "house husband" and a daughter who is just beginning the throes of teenage angst, Brady exhibits some of the emotional stress that comes with the territory of being a wife, mother and career woman.
Jance once again treats us to the wild beauty of the deserts she was raised in, while giving us some reality of the tedium/political balance and danger that involves police work, particularly for women in management. Brady is drawn in a more complex faction, and Jance is wise to insure that she makes some mistakes and acts in ways that we shake our heads at from time to time. The supporting cast is also strongly drawn, and its nice to not like Jenny, Brady's daughter very much -- the writer gives a picture of a real teen, not just an accessory to the family. Jenny's personally involved in finding the first of three bodies in homicides that occur in a few days in Cochise County. The murders, which appear to be related, are, in a sort of "domino theory" way. In addition, the problems of meth labs in the wilderness, unregistered aliens and carjackings in southern Arizona are highlighted, helping the reader understand what a difficult piece of real estate Brady has inherited as sheriff.
In this book, we actually get some insight and humanity from Brady's mother, Eleanor, for the first time! Eleanor's own second marriage is described in realistic terms, as is the infighting and small conflicts of the sheriff's troop.
I'm always anxious to buy and consume a new Jance novel; her heroine has not grown stale and shows promise of more complexity and action-oriented stories in the future.
Great read!

This series has been going on for a long time now. I first read a J.A.Jance novel when she had only a few J.P.Beaumont novels. No one even knew that she was female, because the books had been released as paperback originals, without author photos in the back of the books. I've been following her ever since.
Jance is a serviceable, if not brilliant author. Her writing style is pretty good, though her ear for dialog is only so-so. Where she's strongest is characters and plots. This book is no exception. The main character, Joanna Brady, is the housewife-turned-sherriff who works to run her department and solve crimes.
In this installment, Joanna's daughter and a classmate sneak off from a camp-out to smoke a cigarette and find a dead body. The victim is a middle-aged former spinster who's lost her fortune to a fortune-hunting husband, who's now apparently lured her to her death, or at least that's what everyone thinks. Joanna works her way through the mystery, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and listening to reports from detectives and so forth who do more of the same.
This is not the strongest of the Brady books. For one thing, the series was better when she was a younger sherriff, and the men in the department were somewhat suspicious of her. She has to prove herself. Now she's done that, and so things are somewhat more tepid. Instead, she has ups and downs with a new husband, a daughter who's growing up, and so forth. They don't add to the story as much as they might.
That being said, this is still a good book, and a worthy addition to the series. The plot's not entirely predictable, and the story takes some twists and turns that are fun, to say the least.

In 1667, blind, thought to be at the end of his life, Milton composed one of the greatest epics in the English language. Much debated, much imitated, there no epics yet written that have equaled Paradise Lost. Milton wrote in blank verse (poetry without rhyme)that continues to amaze readers with his grasp of what the English language could do; only Shakespeare had a keener grasp.
Divided in to twelve books, Paradise Lost starts off showing us a vision of hell quite different of Dante's in that Hell is described not so much a place but an environment one's self creates.("The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.)Throughout the first four books we see the fall, Heaven, Hell, all through Satan's perspective. The last eight books are centered on the parents of mankind Adam and Eve. Reader may find their own intentions and philosophies on life brought to the surface in reading this book; look to finding which side one sympathizes with: Heaven, Hell, or Adam and Eve? Milton shows his genius in getting each side's thought processes to the forefront. I remember in book X relating with Adam and Eve in their debate following the fall.
Readers may find the language difficult, but if they have prepared themselves by reading a little of Shakespeare and a little of John Donne, it will be considerably easier. Don't allow the language to daunt you, it's worth it!
As to which edition to buy, you have two options: if you're poor, (like me) you'll probably want to go with the Penguin edition; it has good notes, and the introduction is okay. If you have a bit more cash on you go with the Norton Critical Edition edited by Scott Elledge; it has excellent notes, and includes a wide body of analysis on Milton by many different authors.
It's been a long time since I have come across a book that speaks to me so deeply. I will probably read this several more times. I recommend this to all readers that have the courage to plunge headlong into seventeenth century prose.

Admittedly, I don't read out of this version. I've read the story multiple times, but this edition is more of a decoration for house guests and visitors to appreciate. Every once in a long while I will look up a quote from this copy, but to hold it and read the whole of the text would be awkward due to the size and shape of the book. The artwork and large print make the this an excellent purchase.

It is impossible to rate a classic like this. This epic poem about the Garden of Eden spans everything from the Creation of the world to the war in Heaven to Satan's fall into Hell, and also touches on the entire history of Israel. The poem is absolutely beautiful, and Adam and Eve are presented in such a way as to seem truly innocent before the fall and prone to sin after the fall (though they are also much wiser). Everything, from Satan's temptation to Adam and Eve being consumed by lust immediately after eating the fruit, is portrayed in a very remarkable and real way.

This work is supremely enlightening, especially for Christian readers. Milton retains a touch of Classical mythology, yet integrates it in such a way as to fit into the Christian story. With this poem, Milton successfully equated himself with such masters of the epic as Homer and Virgil (which was his aim, as declared in book one). I cannot praise this epic or its sublime effect enough , so I will content myself by saying that this is one poem that everyone should read, for both its scholarly and its religious value.
"The Mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n" (book 1, 254-255)

With its fine binding, large type, and beautiful paper, this large addition of Milton's Paradise Lost will make a handsome addition to any shelf. Some will say that it is not well suited for the first time reader, lacking the line notes of other annotated additions. I would beg to differ, as such commentary, while deepening ones understanding, can also detract from the majesty of Milton's words. Yes, it is true that the laymen will miss many or even most of the references woven into this, perhaps after Shakespeare's work the greatest piece of literature ever produced in English. However, once captivated by the poetry, readers can always go back and peruse thicker, commentary laced edition. First and foremost, one must dive into the language of Milton, before attempting to wring every drop of meaning from that pool's heady wine.

A note, of course, must also be given to the extraordinary illustrations of Gustave Dore included in this volume. Dore's vision, especially the inexorable dissent of Satan from angelic beauty to demonic ugliness can only add to the readers' joy. At less than $20, one cannot go wrong in acquiring this very fine edition.

This one of my all-time favorite series. One of the reasons that I appreciate this series is that I have read the first book in the series, DESERT HEAT, first. I liked it so much that I managed to read every other book in the series in sequence getting to know each of the main characters well. One reason the series is good is that an ordinary woman (Joanna Brady) becomes an extraordinary woman (Sheriff Joanna Brady) by circumstances beyond her control, but still finds the time to become an ordinary woman (a loving mother to her daughter, Jenny as well as newlywed wife to her new husband, Butch). PARADISE LOST is my all-time favorite book in this series. (...)
In this novel, a time of a month and a half has passed since DEVIL'S CLAW. Joanna and Butch are back from their honeymoon in France and are now adjusting to married life. During a Girl Scout camping trip, Jenny (Joanna's daughter) and her tentmate find a body of a woman, while Joanna is eight hours away from town attending a Sheriff's convention as well as attending the wedding of Butch's friend. Later, Jenny's friend is killed in a hit-and-run accident and that's when things start to get dicey.
Joanna Brady has matured gracefully from a grieving policeman's widow to Sheriff of Cochise County in Arizona. She is no longer a neophyte and knows how to give orders and get things done. It is always a pleasure to see her friends, Maryanne Maculyea, Jeff Daniels, Kristin, among others. These characters also change as each book comes along and one is always wondering what's going to happen next. I was disappointed that Angie Kellogg did not make an appearance in this book but it is the richness Ms. Jance gives to all her other characters that makes it a special series.
(...)

... well, at least in part because it's written as if for an old pulp magazine which paid by the word -- never say in ten words what can be expanded to twenty or thirty. It's a perfect book to practice your speed reading, hitting the highlights with occasional dips into the glutinous morass of its prose.
Read in this fashion there are nuggets of interesting plotting. The main plot of three murders in sleepy Cochise County, how they are linked, police procedure, and their eventual resolution holds together surprisingly well and is at least as convincing as usual for mysteries. For at least one aspect you actually do have the crucial clue somewhat in advance of the solution, but mostly there's little of the 'whodunit' to the book -- we have to wait along with the protagonists for the crucial information from lab or database, at which point the next step is obvious. But some of the numerous subplots seem rather overheated and certainly unnecessary. The book isn't "intricately plotted" so much as it just goes off in several scattered directions at once. But unlike, say, Joseph Hansen's "Job's Year", this conflation of one awful event after another in the life of Sherrif Brady, her family and department, does not seem to be a theme for the book -- merely,as the Publishers Weekly review indicated, a dip toward soap opera.
But the writing, oh the writing. Whenever I slowed down enough to notice, it was all I could do not to run for a blue pencil (I do plan to sell this book .. definitely not a keeper). Not only is the prose inflated, bordering on bloviation, but we are constantly told what to think about something rather than simply presenting an observation: "... the woman who stepped out wore a bright yellow sundress and matching hat. The ladylike attire stood in stark contrast to the rest of her outfit, which consisted of thick socks and heavy-duty hiking boots." Far better to simply show us the boots and leave us to notice the contrast. And the department's unmarked cars must have been referred to as Crown Victorias .. or the cutesy 'Civvies' .. several hundred times (yet never once explaining little details like why they were driving this model, or why we should care; it's not even 100 per cent clear these weren't patrol cars). I could go on and on, but suffice to say it was a battle between screaming and gritting my teeth.
I've read some of Jance's previous work and though hardly eloquent don't recall it's being this badly written. Let's hope this is a temporary lapse .. or that she finds an editor who actually edits.

When her daughter and a fellow scout find a corpse, and then the fellow scout is killed, Sheriff Joanna Brady springs into action. She means to protect her daughter no matter what and no sacrifice, even promises to her new husband, will get in the way. Brady goes after the killer(s) with dogged determination and all of the scientific help modern criminal labs can bring to the table.
Like some of the earlier Joanna Brady mysteries, I did find some missing details here. Whatever happened to Maggie MacFerson, for example, after she threatened to destroy Brady's career? Because Jance does such a fine job in developing her characters and because she adds true emotional intensity to the involving mystery, I found I didn't mind.
Jance does an excellent job interweaving the mystery with the emotional and personal lives of her characters. As Brady is losing the race with the murders, she is also losing her connection to her mother, her daughter, and her husband. The harder she tries, the more she risks everything she wants out of life. Resolution of these personal matters is every bit as important as the resolution of the mystery, and Jance does a fine job delivering a satisfying conclusion to both.

This is altogether an interesting read. It's not as engaging as I thought it would be, but is well-written.

I find it a bit repetitive with many emphases on shifted gender roles: Joanna's (Joey's) husband seems to be a stay-at-home spouse, who is also his best (female)friend's maid of honor (or "man of honor"). Joey's best friend is a pregnant minister, who also has a stay-at-home husband. And as a child Joey was embarrassed that her mother was a housewife who never had an outside job. I mention this only because it sounded strange to me, and I have to laugh while writing this.

I like more variety in characters, particularly contrasting ones, not just the same old thing, but this didn't affect the ultimate story... just gave me the giggles. All in all, I'd recommend this book!

"Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" really entitle John Milton to be called Shakespeare's successor. While the material may seem to be drawn out at times, we must remember that Milton is exercising his mastery of the English language. It is my opinion that you will enjoy this book the most after you have read the Bible. Basically, "Paradise Lost" is this. Satan has been defeated by the forces of God; Satan tries to cheer up what's left of his defeated forces; he contemplates another move; like a good leader, he listens to what his different allies have to say; he then journeys out of hell to find something he can use; God becomes aware of Satan's 2nd wind and fears that man will be corrupted by Satan; Jesus offers to sacrifice himself for the salvation of man; the angel Uriel sees Satan and warns the angel Gabriel of Satan's presence; Gabriel goes to Eden and explains to Adam how God's angels defeated Satan as well as the story of creation; Satan gets Eve to eat the forbidden apple; in sorrow, Adam decides to share Eve's fate; before being cast out, the angel Michael encourages Adam by telling of the coming of Christ. It is interesting how Milton was able to make Satan human and sympathetic. One really interesting thing is that Satan tricks Eve into eating the forbidden apple, but he honestly thinks it is an absurd rule God gave them: "...can it be a sin to know, / Can it be death? and do they only stand / By ignorance, is that their happy state, / The proof of their obedience and their faith?" (Book 4, Lines 517-520). If I may be permitted a slight digression, in "Bedazzled," Peter Cook as the devil hinted at how he thought this was absurd: "I'll tell you why Adam and Eve were so happy. They were pig ignorant." The most frightening thing about this book is that at times, Satan does have reason on his side. Moving on to "Paradise Regained," that is a longer and more articulate telling of Christ's temptation in the desert. While some people may find it disturbing to see a human, sympathetic, and at times very rational Satan, Milton truly deserves to be called William Shakespeare's successor.

This was my first Sheriff Brady mystery, and I would be willing to pick up another if the circumstances are right. Paradise Lost is a decently written page-turner which kept my interest much more than I expected it to do.

There are lots and lots of stones that you could throw at the book. The resolution at the end is annoyingly complete for everybody, with even the annoying mother being rehabilitated. Butch Dixon does not seem to have a flaw. Her daughter is amazingly understanding and contrite. I guess that kind of happy ending goes with the cozy territory, so I will not complain too much.

Jance seems to work less in traditional cozy whodunnit territory, and is more interested in incorporating the mystery aspects of the sheriff job with the personal ups and downs of her life. Think of it as a kind of cozy procedural and you will get the picture.

The writing is not elegant, but good enough to keep the plot moving. This would be a good book to waste a few hours or as a gift for the younger teenager who is just starting to explore the mystery genre.

This Signet edition has excellent and to the point footnotes to help any reader wade through this work. The introduction is also superb, highlighting the controversies surrounding the poems' place in our literature. I get the impression that the spellings are modernized a bit, as there are places where I just cannot figure out how to get an iambic pentameter rhythm out of the line. Anyhow, now onto the poems themselves:

Paradise Lost:

Milton wanted his whole life to write an epic poem in English. He wasn't sure what to write it about, but eventually when getting old decided to write about as big a topic as he could imagine, which is the birth of mankind and the war between God and Satan over dominion of man. There is a lot going on in this poem that could likely be attributed to the troubled times he lived in, with its Puritan versus Cavalier civil war, change in governmental systems, and so on, and to his own personal tragedy of having gone blind. Two images I really enjoyed while reading are Satan's organ gun that he invented to fight God, and when Satan and his minions are all turned into snakes - which I think the Conan the Barbarian film drew from. Given that England only then was beginning to become important on the world stage, his poem is the product of some kind of national cultural optimism. In earlier ages merely translating foreign works was the most a writer of his genius might aspire to. The fact that this poem was written at a seminal time in English as a creative and innovative work is its greatest attraction to us as English readers.

On the flip side, what I did not like so much about the poem is how it so closely in many parts (not most of course) follows the Bible. If one is familiar with the Bible, and readers of English literature tend to be, then this kind of regurgitation of known passages and tales can quickly become wearisome. The classical allusions are less so, as they are more a matter of simile and action (like the scene with the scales of God taken from the Iliad) than of plot - they decorate rather than dominate the process of the poem. While the dialogue and rhetoric is indeed impressive among the characters involved, being so familiar with the outcomes puts a damper on the poems' enjoyment. The poem is much more creative and imagery-rich nearer the beginning than nearer the ending. Milton seems to have gotten more interested in his theology the longer he worked at the poem, and as far as we know he laboured over it for half a decade.

Paradise Regained:

His shorter quasi-sequel poem Paradise Regained is mostly theology and little imagery. It is a great poem too, but much less so. While I could see myself rereading Paradise Lost, I cannot say the same for Paradise Regained. It is also much less dramatic or moving than its older brother poem.

The Meter:

I think it is terrifically important to read the poem with the correct meter. Even though the accents of the iambs often fall on the wrong syllable, you still ought to read the meter correctly, overruling standard pronunciation. Without the meter involved, the poem becomes a mere story. The meter is critical, and is part of the author's design. It also revels in the aggressive, pulsating rhythms that English is so handsomely endowed with. There are markings in this edition to help you get the meter right.

As great as these works are, I think it is a shame that we did not see the other great poets in the 18th and 19th Centuries take the genre further. It would be nice to see a less theological epic poem set in Milton's theo-graphical world. Perhaps heroes could ascend high mountains and there meet angels like Tyriel in a misbegotten quest to regain lost Paradise or such. Call it "Paradise Sought" or something like that.

+++++

(Note that this review is for the book "Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained" published by Signet Classic in 2001.)

"Of Man's First disobedience, and the Fruit
Of the Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat"

Thus begins some say the greatest and most controversial epic non-rhyming poem (which has two parts, some say two poems) in English literature. The first part was published in 1667 and the second part in 1671 by a then blind poet named John Milton (1608 to 1674).

"Paradise Lost" consists of twelve long chapters or "books." "Paradise Regained" is the more subdued and much simpler second part and consists of four books. The first part is centered around the biblical story of the fall of Adam and Eve and ranges from heaven to hell while the second part is the story of Satan's triple temptation of the Son of God in the wilderness.

Both parts of this poem can be read for their magnificent poetry, their powerful imagery and language, their imaginative vision and storytelling, or their complex and passionate view of human suffering.

My favorite lines from this poem are:

" The mind is its own place, and in itself,
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."

Besides the poem, this particular book has three main features:

(1) Introduction by Dr. Susanne Woods, a Professor of English (at Wheaton College in Massachusetts). It is excellent and provides valuable insight on Milton's poem.

(2) Notes and Footnotes by Chris Ricks, a professor of humanities (at Boston University). Each chapter or book of the poem begins with a brief "argument," a note that summarizes in modern English each book's contents. I found these an invaluable aid. As well, there are footnotes throughout that help the reader with obscure language and indicate nuances and puns.

(3) Chronology of Milton's life. When did Milton go blind? Was Milton married? Was Milton ever arrested? These are the sorts of questions that are answered instantly in this section.

This poem can be a challenging read but ultimately worth it. I recommend not rushing when reading it.

The artwork on the cover of this book is impressive. It is an image entitled "The Shepherd's Dream" (from "Paradise Lost") by artist Henry Fuseli.

Finally, to get an extraordinary visual impression of the first, longer part of this poem, I recommend "Dore's Illustrations for Paradise Lost" (1993) by Gustave Dore.

In conclusion, be sure two read this epic poem to see why it "has thrilled, challenged, and sometimes dismayed readers from the seventeenth to twenty-first century!"

(published 2001; introduction; general note on this text; a note on this edition; chronology; "Paradise Lost" in 12 books; "Paradise Regained" in 4 books; main narrative 360 pages; selected bibliography)

+++++

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is one of the all-time classics of English literature. The epic poem begins with Satan just having been expelled from Heaven. Adam and Eve are tempted in the Garden of Eden, and fall. Before the two are expelled from Eden, Adam has revealed to him some of the major events of the Old and New Testaments, culminating in the Second Coming of Christ. The epic has enthralled readers for well over three centuries.

One thing that must be borne in mind when reading this work is that Milton's theology was not orthodox Christian theology, but Arianism, as he denied the Trinity and believed that Christ was not eternal, but created by God the Father. Also, the seventeenth century English is difficult to plow through. However, by forcing the reader to reflect on the origin of evil and to consider what they believe about the concept of original sin, "Paradise Lost" proves to be worth the effort one must make in reading it.

The 9th. Joanna Brady story begins with a focus on Joanna's daughter, Jenny who is going through the 12-year-old doldrums. She has looked forward to a Girl Scout camping trip until she finds out that a state-wide fire hazard warning has caused her leader to bring a motor home instead of "roughing it" as they had planned. Added to this, Jenny has to draw a colored button to determine who her roommate is and she ends up with her least favorite Scout, Dora Matthews. Despite the obvious differences between the girls, Dora talks Jenny into leaving their tent for a forbidden cigarette. While walking away from the camp, they discover a dead body. Later in the book, as more bodies appear, Joanna becomes fearful for her daughter's safety. She feels it is a race against time, until she finds the killer. Jance does a nice job of incorporating Joanna's new husband, Butch, into the story, and their new-marriage adjustments seem very realistic. However, this is not the best one of the series.

First off, let me say that we're not talking here about the famous Qi gong instructor named John Milton. We're talking about the famous 17th-century English poet who wrote _Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_, two of the most wonderfully overlong Christian poems in the history of Western literature.

Your English teacher will tell you that _Paradise Lost_ "narrates the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience, explains how and why it happened, and places the story within the larger context of Satan's rebellion and Jesus' resurrection." And you know that can't be far wrong, because SparkNotes says the exact same thing.

But the main reason everyone should read Milton's grand epic is that it contains certain secrets about prayer.

In PL, Milton reminds us how important it is, when we pray, to be absolutely specific. The Lord has a strange, often disturbing, sense of humour (PL, books I-XII). If you leave Him wiggle room, He will answer your prayer in a way you never intended, and then say it was your own damned fault, because your prayer contained seven types of ambiguity.

John Milton writes from experience. Example: Almost every time a good-looking woman passed within view of John Milton, he suffered an involuntary erection. Daniel of the Old Testament might well have suffered such a condition without complaining, but John Milton found it onerous. John was both a Puritan and a student of Saint Augustine. He was not happy when he suffered an erection, he hated it, and he especially resented the women who made that thing happen to him.

In a Latin letter to his friend, George Wither, John Milton reports that, in his youth, he would sometimes see a pretty woman even in his dreams at night, and suffer, not just an erection, but the whole nine yards, up to and including a nocturnal emission; which he trained himself to handle according to Scripture, thereby to purify himself (Deut. 23:10); but sometimes he was unable to wait that long before he handled it, which filled his soul full of Puritan remorse and self-reproach.

At age 33, the poet took to wife a 16-year-old lolita named Mary Powell; and you may already have guessed the reason why, which is that she gave him an erection -- more accurately, she gave him "one damned erection after another," without remission. (Giving John Milton an erection was not the girl's conscious intent, but it just happened to him, every time they met.) And since Christian marriage is Saint Paul's only approved method whereby to deal with that kind of torment, John Milton (being an honourable man) thought it best to marry the girl (1 Cor. 7:9).

Frailty, thy name is woman! After two years of marriage - after just two years of witnessing those insufferable erections that could not be beaten down, or at least, not for long - the poet's young Puritan bride ran away and skipped back home to live with her mother, Mrs. Anne Powell, who likewise gave John an erection; which is why John Milton resented his mother-in-law as well as his estranged wife.

Those were the hardest years of the poet's life - nothing but a daily struggle against involuntary erections, yet here he was, trapped in a loveless marriage to a barely pubescent teenager who lived with her entirely-too-attractive mother. Which is partly why John Milton wrote those four revolutionary Christian pamphlets, correcting Moses' and Jesus' hardline policy on divorce (Mark 10:11-12).

In his Latin correspondence, some of which is preserved in the Bodleian Library, John Milton reports that he was fine when alone in his study, or when hobnobbing with Parliamentarians, or even when having a hasty pudding, or a figgy one, over at the Inns of Court; but let just one good-looker cross his path, showing good ankle between the hem of her dress and the top of her shoe, and it was boing! - instant erection, just like a spring-loaded mechanical device; causing John to exclaim bitterly, "Oh, God, please, not again! Save me from this penal fire!"

It even happened to him once when Oliver Cromwell's wife, Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell, bent over to pick up a handkerchief that had fallen to the floor. On that occasion there was a lamentable accident ("an hard mishap" [verbatim quote]) with John's ordinarily modest codpiece - an incident so humiliating that John never even wrote a poem about it, although he did apologise, profusely, to Oliver Cromwell, and to Mrs. Cromwell, who saw the whole thing, and then fainted. (John at the time was employed as Cromwell's Latin secretary.)

By the way: It was modesty, not arrogance, that moved John Milton, after that embarrassing incident, to wear a baggy codpiece, with plenty of wiggle room.

Which brings me back to the beginning, when I was explaining why you should give the Lord no wiggle room when you pray: John Milton took his problem to the Lord in prayer, stating in his journal, "Father, I pray Thee, let me not suffer a stiffe joynt when I see a beautifull woman."

And here's how the Lord answered that prayer, in 1651: He struck John Milton blind.

At first, John thought that his blindness was a punishment for his own bad behaviour - which is how that whole thing got going, in Anglo-American Christianity, about how, if you are a boy who does what John Milton used to do, it could make you go blind. But God revealed to John, by means of a dream, that his blindness was actually an answer to his own prayers ¬- because the poet had said, "Father, let me not suffer a stiff joint when I see a beautiful woman."

John Milton then said, "Lord, that is not what I meant, at all" - but it was too late to change the outcome, because the prayer was already answered.

The erections that John Milton suffered in the years 1651-1674, and there were many, even after the Lord answered his prayer, were not from seeing a beautiful woman, it was actually because John had a condition that modern physicians call PSAS ("Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome"). So the chronic "stiffe joynt" problem was not really the women's fault, and it never was; but John Milton never knew that. Even when he wrote Paradise Lost (by dictation, from 1652-1667), John was still under the impression that women, seen or unseen, were to blame for his condition; which is why he makes all of those snide remarks in blank verse about your mother, Eve, in Books IV-V and IX-X of Paradise Lost. Because whenever he pictured Eve in his mind's eye, it was boing! - the same old problem. And there would come no more blank verse to his head for the next twenty minutes or so, until things settled down. John Milton hated that.

But it all turned out for the best: if God had not answered John Milton's prayer in that unusual way, by blinding him, Paradise Lost might never have been completed, and sold to the publisher, Sam Simmons, in 1667, for £5 - which was a tidy sum for a religious poem during the decadent Restoration era.

It was while writing the early books of Paradise Lost that John was introduced to Katherine, a ship captain's daughter, a fat woman whom he had never seen (because he was blind); whom he nonetheless married in 1656, but not for the same old reason as before: John asked fat Kate to marry him (a.) because he needed secretarial assistance with Paradise Lost, and (b.) because Katherine did not have the same pernicious effect on him as Mary Powell and her mother Anne had done. John could dictate blank verse to Kate all night long without feeling so much as a tingle down there.

Kate's surname was Woodcock. Beelzebub made a little joke about that: he said, "The Lord finally gave John Milton just what he always wanted."

- L.

It's an utter classic, and I'm so glad it's offered as a reasonably-priced Barnes & Noble Classic. The story, drawn directly from the Christian bible, is obviously not original, but Milton turns it into an unbelievably beautiful drama with astonishing characters, and a writing style to match. No matter your religious or spiritual beliefs, this is a story of powerful emotion--for all characters, including Satan--and offers multiple perspectives on the same argument. It's all about cause and effect. The book is challenging yet satisfying. If you have the patience, it's worth the experience.

Milton himself accurately assessed his likely readership as being 'few'. No wonder. I haven't verified this, but I believe Dr Johnson's comment on reading Paradise Lost was something like 'This is not even English'. I do recall T S Eliot's two famous onslaughts on him for much the same reason, and Eliot's description of the Miltonic idiom as 'a lingo of his own based on English', which I would call exactly right, only I don't see that as a criticism. To me Milton is a drug. I love sound, I love language and I know Latin poetry (Greek as well, but that is more important for the mythology than the poetry). I also know my bible pretty well, as atheists often do. For me, Paradise Lost is about two things -- first to justify the ways of God to men, and second that incredible lingo. I'm not sure how anyone who does not have a good knowledge of Latin, its poetry in particular, can really appreciate Milton's idiom. Eliot makes a song and dance over certain of its features, one I remember from Samson being about the moon
'Hid in her vacant interlunar cave', about which Eliot acutely observes that the word 'interlunar' is not necessary to the sense. Sure it's not. Offhand from Paradise Lost I could quote
'Of light the greater part by far he took
Transplanted from her cloudy shrine', where you can say the same about 'transplanted', and there are hundreds of such instances. This is a very characteristic way that Latin poetry in general expressed itself, and Eliot has got the wrong end of the stick by not understanding that. Much of Milton's vocabulary is also half-Latin, e.g. 'complicated' meaning knotted and countless other such. I can never unknow my Latin, thank God, and so I can never be sure just what Milton' poetry, as opposed to his theology, conveys to those who read him without it.
When I had Milton forced down my throat, my unhearing ears (maybe even my 'blind mouth') at school (I did not pursue English further but went for Greek and Latin), the orthodox view appeared to be that Satan was some great piece of 'characterisation'. To this day that interpretation means nothing to me. Milton is all about sound and language, not characters. God, Satan (Ariel does not get anything to say), Adam, Eve, Ithuriel and the whole mighty harlequinade are all just talking the great Miltonic talk, like the author himself between the speeches. The thought creates the tone of the talk, and the tone creates the characters. In the early books Satan is the focus, in the later Adam and Eve. They sound different because they think differently. This is not drama or anything resembling drama.
Milton justifies the ways of God to me very well. I was brought up religious and I am at home with theological argument. Milton's argument is strong given his base position as an intense believer, and it is what underpins the terrific strength and the unremitting concentration of his whole apocalyptic vision. To me God is just a hypothesis and that is as far as I can go with him, and to me poetry is far more significant than theology. I have read a load of pretentious hot air about what poetry is, but the remark that illuminated the issue to me more than all the rest of it was by Housman in an address on Swinburne, when he said 'poetry is a tone of voice, a way of saying things'. Bingo. Spot on. Paradise Lost to me is all one mighty voice talking 'in divers tones' as Tennyson has it.
On a lighter note, did you know that the word 'backside' is used in Paradise Lost? You will find it at III/494 as part of his attack on Catholicism. This is a particularly memorable passage, and I say that not as an atheist but as someone who appreciates humour. My memory of Milton outside of Paradise Lost is lengthening, though I plan to refresh it, but at the moment it is the only instance of anything that could even possibly be seen as humour in Milton. I choose to forget everything I have seen described as 'humour' in Comus.

It is a laborious read, but John Milton's Paradise Lost is worth it. First published in 1667, Paradise Lost remains, many contend, the greatest poem ever published in English, and Milton is deemed second only to Shakespeare among the pantheon of English writers. When reading Milton, be prepared for hundreds of references to Greek and Roman mythology that few of us (myself included) are familiar with as well as works saturated in biblical references and allusions and much obscure vocabulary. Happily, this Norton Critical Edition includes hundreds of notes--footnotes, so there is no disruptive flipping back and forth! This edition also offers dozens of critical essays on Paradise Lost, some dating back to its publication, a couple of Milton's prose works and an extensive glossary. Whether reading for pleasure or for (school) credit, this NCE of Paradise Lost is a godsend.

This is a readable, but, I'm afraid, a not very complex or suspenseful thriller featuring Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady. Joanna's teenage daughter and her bad-girl tentmate Dora sneak away from Girl Scout camp and stumble across a woman's battered body. Only days later, Dora is also murdered, which makes Joanna logically fear that her daughter will be next. There are a few twists and turns in the story which will keep you going even though you have probably figured out who did it quite a bit before.
The location is nicely rendered, with the added nuance that, due to the rural nature of Cochise County, characters are constantly driving from one place to another. This gives Jance the opportunity for some neat place-setting touches.
But there is a lot of telling rather than showing characters' feelings and motivation, and many of the minor characters are weakly developed. In three lines of dialogue, one character goes from "she said" to "she wailed" to "she whispered" in what is surely an impossibly rapid rollercoaster of emotion. There is a lot of that "he said boldly" and "she said sadly" kind of writing in "Paradise Lost" which relaxes whatever emotional grip the book might get on a reader.
J.A. Jance is already a bestselling author, but a good editor should be working with her to bring her writing to another level and earn her a wider readership.

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till on greater Man
Restore us and regain the blissful seat
Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received.

This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after.

Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim.

John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king.

Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements.

Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n.

(Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!)

The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation.

A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course.

This edition includes more than 50 pages of Milton's other poetry, including sonnets; there are also extensive sections of the KJV biblical text that directly relates to themes in Paradise Lost. Dozens of essays of literary criticism, from the likes of Voltaire, Dryden, Blake, Keats and Wordsworth as well as contemporary commentators such as Bloom, Frye and Adams complete this critical Norton edition.

I think the secret to the compelling nature of the plotline in J.A. Jance's PARADISE LOST is the awful frightfulness of the danger that lurks in the simplest things of everyday life, and the difficulty of negotiating the twists and turns of being a mother, a daughter, a wife, and a female sheriff caught in the limelight while running a murder investigation, and how all those roles play into the potential for disaster looming in the rear-view mirror, as well as the desperate hope for renewal that appears for brief moments around every turn in the road.

Jance creates her effects by letting the reader find his or her way inside the minds and hearts of her characters, and by creating a world that is at once malicious and domestic in ways that can sometimes make it difficult to distinguish one from the other.

It seems a simple story, simply told, but it keeps you on the razor's edge.

As the author of a debut mystery that is set in the American Southwest, I always enjoy J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady novels. In PARADISE LOST, Ms. Jance adds complications to her Arizona sheriff's life. Joanna is adjusting to a new marriage, building a dream house, and dealing with a daughter who is growing up too fast. During a Girl Scout campout, Joanna's daughter, Jenny, and one of the daughter's friends sneak off to sneak cigarettes. They find a body. Sheriff Brady starts investigating the murder, yet she is also concerned with her daughter's misbehavior. Then the daughter's friend turns up dead, and Joanna worries that Jenny may be the next victim in the killer's sights. Throw in a subplot involving Joanna's suspicions involving her new husband possibly having an affair, and you have a top-notch mystery here. It may be titled PARADISE LOST but it is actually, for the reader, PARADISE FOUND.

Mesmerizing. Milton's Paradise Lost is a foundational, seminal item within the body of Western literature, and perhaps the most evocative exploration of the Judeo-Christian romance it has ever produced. It is revisionist religion, but Milton's lyrical touch rings of canon. Foremost an account of falling from God's grace, it is nevertheless Milton's discussion of free will and evil, and their place in a Cosmos engineered by an omnipotent Creator that haunts most readers. To reconcile these thorns to the rose of Heaven, and thus "justify the ways of God to men," is Milton's stated objective.

Many have found Paradise Lost a more perturbing than satisfying justification. Satan has been called the protagonist, even the hero of the poem. Indeed, Milton casts quite a magnificent figure in Satan: a redoubtable individualist, noble in defying the Almighty and resolute in suffering his vengeance. As for Satan's trespass that warrants eternal penalty, "ambition" is the charge, but the revolt seems more principled than an internecine power struggle. His machinations against man are vindictive, but not nefarious. R.J. Zwi Werblowsky has even argued that Satan resembles Prometheus, hence the name Lucifer ("bringer of light") - for as Prometheus conveyed fire to man, so Satan illuminates the bondage that man suffers under God and facilitates Man's liberation to the exercise of his own free will. Milton's God, on the other hand, resembles a despot suppressing all those who buck the reigns: an omnipotent entity who foretells (and so authors) man's fall to suffering yet throws his blameless hands in the air. As for the divine gift of "free choice", the espoused justification for punishment, it is a notion that seems illusory to Satan in that its catch is unconditional servitude. Concerning Satan and his fallen angels, God remarks that "Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell." But in the Devil's eyes, there was no choice at all under heavenly service - to be "free to fall" is to be free to do only that, famously stating in Book I that "Here at least We shall be free....To reign is worth ambition though in Hell, Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven." So while the "Problem of Evil" is not adequately remedied by this "free to fall" rationalization, human suffering compounds by the generation. And as God countenances a world of pain, suffering, and death with the ability to cease it, one cannot help but deduce as Archibald Macleish did in his famous Job rewrite: "If God is God, he is not good. If God is good, he is not God." God is either omnipotent or righteous, but not both. If He is omnipotent, He must be evil because He has permitted evil. If He is righteous, He must be powerless because evil exists. Neither Macleish or Milton's Satan are persuaded by the 'free choice' justification for "the problem of evil".

So here man stands: mundane sport for a spiteful demon and sadistic creator, and absent the pre-assigned "Good" and "Evil" labels dogma has imputed to God and Devil, it isn't clear who plays who. Or maybe not. The literati including inter alia, Stanley Fish, have suggested that this interpretation (empathizing with 'evil' and blaming the 'good') is precisely Milton's design. Fish argues that Milton employed "rhetorical indirection" to have readers seduced by Satan's eloquence and inured to God's logic, thus revealing how contemporary man is as susceptible as ever to fall to the wiles of a serpent tongue. But if the way we read Paradise Lost, spurning God and defending those who did the same, is meant to reflect our fallen state, it is because Milton's words prove just as beguiling as that of the serpent. However, while Fish's theory does not mistake the charm of Satan (his words cast quite a spell), it does not rescue the "free to fall but not to know" logic of Milton's God that both prelapsarian and modern man have refused all the same. To tease knowledge by suggesting its ignorance, and to literally hold it over our heads within immediate reach, should hardly be permitted the designation of "temptation." It is a God ordained booby-trap. Satan's rhetoric is not so specious, God is not so logical, and ignorance preserves us no Eden. Then again, perhaps enchanted "with words cloth'd in reason's garb," count me among the fallen. But who couldn't nibble off of Milton's own Tree of Knowledge?

Atonement for himself or offering meet,
Indebted and undone, hath none to bring:
Behold mee then, mee for him, life for life
I offer, on mee let thine anger fall;
Account mee man.
(Christ, Book III)

Playing moral referee between God and Satan perhaps misses the point, because before one can blow the whistle and adjudge who threw the first punch, the true hero of Paradise Lost emerges. Christ. He is the only figure in Milton's epic who plays both lion and lamb - is the puissance who expels Satan, but also the Father's halcyon alter ego who ends the wrathful exchanges between Heaven and Hell: answering immortal hate with eternal love. Through Christ, God volunteers to suffer the evils he has hitherto inflicted upon man, and in taking some of his own medicine, a deity of limitless splendor debases himself to humanity and suffers pain and death with him. Thus Christ knows us because he was us, and He forgives our evil because he has personally understood it. It might not make Christianity true, but it sure makes it beautiful. While all the other Abrahimic religions scoff at the blasphemy, Christ saves man from his own doom and God from his own anger. By interceding to spare man the fate of Satan, man is afforded one more bite at the apple. Justice without love will only bring the creator wrath and the created suffering, thereby spoiling any hope for a paradise regained. Perhaps that is the enduring message of Milton's epic.

"Paradise Lost" is simply one of the most beautiful poems ever written. Milton's descriptions are so filled with color and emotion that I felt like I could see this celestial event taking place in front of me. "Paradise Lost" is the story of Satan's fall from grace, God's subsequent creation of Earth and Man, and Satan's deadly corruption of God's masterpiece. Not only was Milton's writing so legendary but his respect for Scripture was equally admirable.
"Paradise Lost" is a foundational work of Western Culture that should be read by every western citizen, if only for the finale in which Adam is taken up a hill near Eden by Michael, the arch-angel, and shown the future of the world. Standing there he sees the world with a view that modern man loves to deny:
"...I had hope/When violence was ceas't, and Warr on Earth,/All would have gon well, peace would have crownd/With length of happy dayes the race of man;/But I was farr deceav'd; for now I see/Peace to corrupt no less than Warr to waste."
While this scene is a fictional scenario, it is an ingenius way for Milton to not only express the despair and guilt that Adam must have felt, but to tell the reader of the Hope that God would restore to Adam's race through His Son. This is the theme of Milton's wonderful poem.

Paradise Lost is my favorite work in the English language, and this is my favorite edition of it (I have quite a few). The editor, Roy Flannagan, does a superb job with the footnotes. They address just about every question a modern reader might have, provide plenty of historical context and explain in detail the zillions of references and names that someone who is not intimately familiar with all of Milton's sources (among them the Bible and ancient Greek and Roman mythology) will have a hard time understanding. Flannagan's infectious enthusiasm for this poem comes across loud and clear, and he never condescends to readers that lack a PhD, like Merritt Hughes does in his scholarly edition of Paradise Lost. Finally, the page layout of the Flannagan edition makes reading and note taking real easy. In sum, this is hands down the best edition of Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost is the finest literary work ever penned in any language. Some may disagree, but they won't be able to make a strong case against that claim.

It is, hands down, the most sophisticated and intricate work ever penned in English. Milton is the only author I have ever encountered who not only tries but succeeds in reproducing the uncanny interpretive depth of Scripture. Like the Bible--indeed, perhaps even more successfully--Paradise Lost not only rewards re-reading, but delivers increasingly precise, nuanced insights into the human condition, man's depravity, the absolute benevolence of God, the nature of free will, the compatibility of faith and reason, and the long-term consequences of mankind's original error.

Milton also brilliantly anticipates every credible objection, ancient or modern, that has ever been raised to impugn God's benevolence or to question the compatibility of infinite mercy with eternal punishment. Religion aside, he also understands and conquers some of the fundamental interpretive problems of human language, while brilliantly negotiating man's instinctive reactions to imaginative literature and the long literary tradition of (mis)depicting heroic values (at least as Christianity defines them). Simply put, if you find any fault with Milton's God, it is safe to assume that you aren't reading the poem carefully enough and you've misunderstood Milton.

If you could only have one book to read and glean meaning from for the rest of your life, this would be it. I cannot recommend it enough.

This is part of the wonderful Joanna Brady series, but each book can stand alone so one need not read them in series. The characters are very realistic and multi-dimensional, as we real humans are. It is easy to be drawn into the mystery and the outcome is neither obvious or contrived. Although I have visited the area the story takes place in, it is not necessary to enjoy the book because the author paints a vivid picture of the environs.

Justly placed at the head of the canon of Western literature behind Shakespeare and Dante by Harold Bloom, Milton stands as a towering creative genius in English literature and epic poetry.

Milton conceived of his vast epic as a way to justify the 'ways of God to man.' Strangely, the character of Satan is absolutely central to this epic more so even than Adam and the rest of humanity, and often one can't help comparing Satan and his journeys and battles against misfortune as akin to those of other great literary heroes, such as Prometheus, Odysseus or Aeneas. I feel in a way the message of Milton is more than just good Protestant Christian apologetics; if you read his passionate and brilliant defense of freedom of the press and of thought in works like Aeropagitica, I am sure Milton in a way showed the power of free choice and what heights it allows any being to soar to, even those who are damned. I always get a sense from reading Milton a great trust in the human spirit and an expectation to rise against tyranny.

While ultimately I feel Milton does not really justify the 'ways of God to man' in an intellectually satisfying way, and his vision lacks the brilliant unity of that of Dante, Milton is certainly a poet and genius of first order and probably the greatest writer in English after Shakespeare. His poetry contains great depth and beauty, not just the Paradise Epics but many other poems as well, and his learning and erudition are immense.

In Milton there is a great confidence in human reason and in the individual to prevail in the face of disaster and hardship. One can't help but admire Satan's stubborness and determination in the face of so much which goes against him, and his incredible efforts to achieve his goals. If you ever wanted an example of 'self-help' look no further than the devil in Milton; despite the most hopeless situations he never gives up. Perhaps conciously or unconciously Milton embodies in Satan and also in Samson our own present confidence in our creative abilities and our determination and intelligence to overcome any obstacles in our way, and perhaps in a world as turbulent as ours, that isn't such a bad hope to have after all.

I used the Norton critical edition edited by Scott Elledge

We will discover in these pages a profound rendering of the cosmic battle between good and evil, man's fall through disobedience to God, and Satan's perversion on mankind.

Each line serves a purpose, so in order to inhale this sublime poem to its fullest it will be necessary to slow down. Immensely valuable to understanding this difficult poem is the editor's explanatory summery going into each of the twelve books (chapters) and the numerous footnotes.

The second half of the book contains a biography, an historical evolution, other writings, and a critical analysis of Milton by multiple revered authors with a wide degree of beliefs.

Wish you well
Scott

Man, Milton is just nuts. He doesn't synthesize as much as he subsumes entire civilizations worth of symbols, motifs and allegories into his own extended riff on the first four books of genesis. He throws together images from greco-roman antiquity, paganism, medieval European mysticism, etc, and churns out this impossibly rich, chthonic view of the divine world that only Dante could keep up with. And unlike Dante, this just hammers you into the ground on each page with sensory and historical overload. Whether you like it or not, it's hard not to acknowledge just how exhaustively ambitious Milton was. And hey, the man can write a really good villain, or anti-hero, or whatever Satan is supposed to be

what joy to read galaxian epics, large in their characters, profound in their language, jumbo-gigantic in their theme! for this work concerns nothing more than the salvation of mankind, the source of all our toxica, the origins of reality's thrash of contradiction, decapitation of sense, the justice of God's infinite bewilderment and a host of other themes, some limpid, some latent. yet the true irony of this story, although milton eventually loses interest in him after his hallow triumph is greeted in inferno with the hiss of snakes, is that the author's sympathies, obsessions and fascination lies most in the character of satan! for did not milton jail-suffer at the hands of the restoration of the house of stuart? the blind english word-smith thus explores in depth this cosmic character of rebellion! for he himself most likely also from time to time longed to attack authority, shirk government decrees and restore to power the creed that he thought would best help mankind rose-flourish and ivory-prosper! here we witness satan's frustration, his nails of soul, his menace of catastrophe! here we read of satan's inappeasable torrent of rats as he witnesses adam in the garden, content, at ease, pax surrounding him and satan thus languishes, yearning for the former splendo-times he passed in celestium. and when adam does finally eat of the apple and is thus exiled from eden's rapture - what hiròshimum! what blight! for he laments his fall from grace in a torrent of mental cacophony and quickly sets about to blame eve for his slither among adders! but the work's most rubylicious feature is its language! how rarely do we encounter whole stories written in iambic pentameter verse! and milton embellishes his cosmic tale with all sorts of unexpected syntax, rioting images and flaxen parallels!

author of Lorelei Pursued and Wrestles with God

The connected plot of "Paradise Lost" and its accompanying poem "Paradise Regained" contains no surprises for anyone who is even casually familiar with the Bible. Milton, however, does something remarkable the Bible doesn't do--he inflates Satan from a mere flat symbol of evil into a complex personality that enlivens his identity as the principal enemy of God, Jesus, and man. Who is Satan, where did he come from, why does he do the things he does, and, most importantly, why is he an indispensable part of the Christian myth? Milton takes the initiative of asking and answering these questions.

Divided into twelve "books," "Paradise Lost" begins with a war in Heaven instigated by the angel Lucifer who, with the help of many rebellious cohorts, tries to wrest control of the celestial kingdom from God. Like a school principal putting kids in detention for starting a food fight in the cafeteria, God deals swiftly and severely with the miscreants, hurling them "headlong flaming from the ethereal sky/With hideous ruin and combustion down/To bottomless perdition, there to dwell/In adamantine chains and penal fire." That's powerful stuff.

The rebel angels, now transformed into devils for their treachery, are imprisoned in Hell, a hot, smelly, miserable place, with Lucifer (now named Satan) their lord to dwell in a palace called Pandemonium--the place of all demons. Milton assigns names of heathen gods to the devils and allows three of them to offer advice on the proper course of action for the hell-bound. The bellicose Moloch insists on resuming war with Heaven, the rational Belial believes a peaceful acceptance of their sentence will eventually restore them to God's good graces, and the pragmatic Mammon suggests they should establish and rule Hell as their new dominion rather than return to Heaven as servants. But Satan has another idea--to travel through Chaos (the dark, lifeless void connecting the realms) to Earth to corrupt Man, the new being with whom God plans to replace the expelled angels in Heaven.

Satan would be uninteresting if he were no more than a fist-shaking, teeth-gnashing villain, but Milton endows this vilest of creatures with the most human of consciences. While on his nefarious mission, as he rapturously views the luxuriant Eden, he laments, "O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams/That bring to my remembrance from what state/I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;" and the jealousy mixed with sorrow is palpable. He knows he did wrong and momentarily regrets his misbehavior, but he also knows that there can never be a reconciliation between him and God, and therefore resigns himself to be forever the king of evil and vie for man's soul. It is here that Satan eavesdrops (pun not intended) on Adam and Eve talking about the Tree of Knowledge, the fruit of which they are forbidden to eat.

Regarding the Tree of Knowledge, the poem inevitably raises the issue of entrapment. What is the purpose of the Tree? Simply that God demands obedience, and obedience can be tested only if there exists something to provide an opportunity to disobey. The material component of this opportunity is the Tree; the human component is the Tempter, who of course is Satan. Jesus, as narrated in "Paradise Regained," is the exemplary resister of Temptation, rejecting Satan's offer of world domination and his challenges to test his faith in God by turning stones to bread and casting himself from the top of the temple's spire. Through embellishment and dramatization, Milton makes ideas like these more explicit in the "Paradise Lost/Regained" poems than they are in the Bible.

Completely blind by the time he wrote these poems, John Milton was a man of strong but curious convictions--he defended the freedom of the press, but he lauded Cromwell and condoned regicide. As poems, "Paradise Lost/Regained" can be read as sacred, reflecting much of English religious thinking of the seventeenth century, or as heroic, subtly illustrating Milton's assiduous efforts to reform religion and government. But regardless of its subtext, it's no wonder that "Paradise Lost" has become one of the most celebrated accomplishments in the English language--the book of Genesis could not have been re-imagined more vividly, more terrifyingly, more beautifully.

Paradise Lost was not part of my core curriculum in science and mathematics. I was of course aware that scholars considered it a great work, a classic. But it seemed a bit daunting - long, difficult, dated, and possibly no longer relevant.
A few years ago I made two fortunate decisions. I elected to read Milton's Paradise Lost and I bought the Norton Critical Edition (edited by Scott Elledge). I read and reread Paradise Lost over a period of three months as well as the 300 pages of the Norton critical commentary. I was stunned by the beauty and power of Milton. Why had I waited so long to even approach such a literary masterpiece?
Make no mistake. I had been right in several ways. Paradise Lost is difficult, it is long, and full appreciation requires an understanding of the historical and religious context. But Paradise Lost is a remarkable achievement. It explores questions regarding man and God that are as relevant today as in the 17th century. And the genius of Milton has never been surpassed.
I found the Norton footnotes extremely helpful - definitions for rare or archaic words and expressions, explanations of the historical context, and links to the critical commentary section. The footnotes are at the page bottom, making them readily accessible.
The Norton biographical, historical, and literary commentaries were fascinating in their own right. I may well as spent as many hours reading commentary as with Paradise Lost itself.
John Milton led a remarkable life. His enthusiastic euology on Shakespeare was included in the second folio edition of Shakespeare in 1632. This was Milton's first public appearance as an author! While traveling as a young man he "found and visited" the great Galileo, old and blind, a house prisoner of the Inquisition for his astronomical heresy. Years later Milton, a close supporter of Cromwell, barely escaped the scaffold at the Restoration and was at risk for some period afterwards. Many considered Milton no more than an outcast, now old and blind himself, a republican and regicide who had escaped death by too much clemency. Within a few years this aging blind outcast created one of the masterpieces of the English language.
Milton broke all English tradition by writing Paradise Lost in blank verse. Homer in Greek and Vergil in Latin had used blank verse, but English demanded rhyme. Although others failed to imitate Milton's blank verse (I suspect that none wanted to be compared directly with genius), the praise was without exception. Dryden, a master of rhyme, is attributed with saying, "This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too".
Milton's characterization of Satan, Adam, Eve, the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel, and even God himself are masterful. The debates and arguments that evolve around free will, obedience, forbidden knowledge, love, evil, and guilt are timeless. And fascinating. And thought provoking.
Paradise Lost will require commitment and patience and thought. The commitment in time is substantial. (I enjoy Samuel Johnson's subtle comment: "None ever wished it longer than it is.") But the return is a personal experience with great literature, one of the masterpieces of the English language. I consider myself fortunate to have made such an investment.

I have been gobbling the Sheriff Joanna Brady books down one right after another the past few weeks. Each mystery is a complete story on its own but each also draws the reader further into the lives of Joanna and her family. The world of Cochise County Arizona is so real I could move there and feel like I would see folks from the books on the street.

Joanna's daughter finds a dead body while sneaking out at night on a Girl Scout camp out. The investigation is moot until a the circumstances lead to the unlikely murderer.. Then her tent mate ends up pregnant at 13 and dead. Quite a time for growing up for this young lady! Great story incorporating Joanna's entire family and sad, but good ending.

I used the Norton critical edition edited by Scott Elledge

We will discover in these pages a profound rendering of the cosmic battle between good and evil, man's fall through disobedience to God, and Satan's perversion on mankind.

Each line serves a purpose, so in order to inhale this sublime poem to its fullest it will be necessary to slow down. Immensely valuable to understanding this difficult poem is the editor's explanatory summery going into each of the twelve books (chapters) and the numerous footnotes.

The second half of the book contains a biography, an historical evolution, other writings, and a critical analysis of Milton by multiple revered authors with a wide degree of beliefs.

Wish you well
Scott

PARADISE LOST is a fast paced tale of murder and breaking the rules that deserves a place on Young Adult shelves because it doesn't tell, it shows the consequences of actions taken.
Joanna Brady, as usual, has her hands full with a new husband turned writer, a pre-teen who sneaks out for a cigarette with her tent mate and discovers a body. The mate is also added to the death toll as the Cochise County sheriff manages her limited resources with some loose ends.
I enjoy the brevity of the tale, just enough to execute the story line and no more.
Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

If you love the Brady series, then get ready for the best of the bunch. Joanna Brady is juggling her new marriage and sheriff responsibilities in this well written tale involving a series of related, or possibly unrelated murders. Her own daughter, Jenny, gets caught up as a possible target in this one, adding to the suspense.
There's something about J. A. Jance's style that captures me. The feeling of reading this book reminded me of the feel of a comfortable set of old shoes. The characters are very appealing, and I can't wait for the next entry to see them mature and progress, and solve crimes along the way. If you want a hard-boiled detective story, then you may not like this book, but for me, nothing beats the Arizona heat. Keep 'em coming Ms Jance!

I am not a Milton scholar and my comments need to be understood in that light.

Having read the previous Norton Critical Edition (edited by Scott Elledge, (C) 1993; Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Editions)) several years ago, I was looking forward to reading this new one (edited by Gordon Teskey). The new edition is printed on heavier paper, which is nicer to read and less prone to bleed through when I write on it. But to maintain the same size and heft, the newer edition is about 100 pages shorter (587 vs 685). Almost all the critical essays are carried over from one edition to the next. But omitted material includes:

A number of Milton's other writings, including 7 sonnets and excerpts from a number of his essays.

An essay about the religious and political issues at the time of Milton

A brief biography of Milton

Explanations of Milton's conceptions about the universe, Physiology and Psychology, Reason, the Scale of Nature, Angels, God, Freedom, etc.

A more complete set of relevant readings from the Bible (the new one omits the readings from Matthew, Luke, John, Timothy, and James).

I found these materials enormously helpful in understanding Milton and Norton's decision to delete them makes the new edition much less useful. I would have preferred, personally, that they delete some of the critical essays about PL, rather than the explanatory materials to help readers get through the book in the first place.

Finally, Teskey's notes are not nearly as helpful. About half of them discuss how the syllables of Milton's words should be counted. Here's a comparison of the notes to book one, lines 43-46, in each edition. From Teskey, page 5:

44: Pow'r: power, pronounced with one syllable: 'paar.'
45: ethereal: has three syllables: 'eth-ear-yal.'
46: hideous has two syllables: 'hid-jus.'

and so forth. Some of his notes explain odd words, ideas, or allusions to biblical or classical texts. I am certain that his emphasis on explaining Milton's syllabification is important to some readers, but it matters little to me.

By comparison, Elledge's notes almost never discuss syllabification. They are full of information explaining the text. From the same set of lines (p. 9):

43: Impious. The L word means disrespectful of one's parents or one's country as well as of one's god.
44: ethereal: (Gk aithein to ignite, blaze) of the ether, the element supposed to fill the outer regions of the universe; not earth, fire or water, it was not earthly but heavenly, and eternal.
46: This image of a meteorite is more distinct in the description of Satan's fall at 745 ("like a falling star"). hideous: causing dread or horror. ruin (L ruere to fall violently) ruins, rubble; fall destruction. combustion. Cf Combustible. line 233.

Elledge's notes are fuller, richer, and far more helpful to me. Knowing what "etheral" means and how it fits into Milton's cosmology is far more interesting and helpful than knowing that he pronounced it with three syllables.

In short, I would encourage folks to look for a copy of Elledge's version of this Norton's Critical edition. I found it far more helpful than Teskey.

Perhaps when Norton issues a second edition of Tewsky's work, they will restore some of the missing material; until they do, I will continue to use Elledge.

January 10, 2013
Not a bed time story
By Joshua Sullivan
Paradise Lost
John Milton
396 pp, The Penguin Group, $5.95, (Adults)
Gruesome descriptions of an undying, eternal state, agonizing pain, and suffering the likes of which no living mortal can fathom is the tale of what was gained after paradise was lost.
John Milton was an English poet as well as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England who lived in the 1600s. His writing style reflected his deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination during a time of religious and political disturbance. He is named among history as one of the most influential protectors of free speech and freedom of the press.
Paradise Lost describes the fall of a Heavenly being, named Lucifer, who wanted take over the throne of Heaven and become equal with God. Lucifer's journey began when he believed himself to be in bondage. Legions of Heavenly beings band together with Lucifer and attempted to DE-throne God (46). Lucifer's name was changed to "Satan" (46). Satan then comes in the form of a "serpent to the Garden of Eden" (119-120).
While in Paradise, he met Adam and Eve in their "happy state"; however, they were forbidden from eating from the "tree of knowledge" under the penalty of death (120). Satan devised a plan to tempt them to rebel against God and eat of the "tree of knowledge"; therefore, causing Adam and Eve to fall from God's grace and there began the fall of man (235). Satan continues to roam common day earth to tempt man to rebel against God. Satan's goal is to bring as many of mankind into his army as he possibly can.
In the beginning, God created Paradise for man and woman to live and have all their needs and wants met by Him. Lucifer's fall from the Kingdom of God resulted in man's fall from God's grace and loss of Paradise. This book is recommended for adults who are seeking understanding of the consequences brought about by one's desire for power and control.
A fictional elaboration of nonfictional events is a wonderful representation of the religious horror genera recommended to fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S Luis
Reviewed by Joshua a high school student for which this book was recommend by a friend. Joshua found this book to be thought provoking and increased his desire to regain Paradise in Heaven.

What's with the title.Couldn't think of anything original.It's a chick book.Female empowerment.The hero, the majority of bad folks and strong characters are women.Men, easy going for the most part, supportive of Alpha Females and subordinate. Story is entertaining but mono dimensional.No sub plots, strictly linear A to B stuff. Great book for women, My preference, strong characters regardless of sex, multi layered with sub plots and sparks ala the battle of the sexes.

So important in modern literature that a lot of people credit the Bible with things that were actually the imagination of Milton in "Paradise Lost." A long twisty tumbling poem that never loses its meaning from the first word to the last. The characterization of Lucifer is unlike any I've ever read, and the most powerful passage in the story is Lucifer addressing the legions of hell, ordering them to do whatever they can to thwart God, while tears of sadness at the loss of heaven stream down his face. Milton played with both typical and atypical views of sin and damnation and created something so timeless that lots of us don't know he imagined it.
In any discussion of religion, I wouldn't leave home without it.

No one but no one could resist the charm and beauty of Milton's Paradise Lost and Philip Pullman, best known for "His Dark Materials Trilogy" makes us fall in love with it all over again with his delightful introductions.

This appealing hardcover version in red and black throughout with illustrations of the twelve engravings from the first illustrated edition published in 1688, plus a red ribbon marker is beautifully produced. It also boasts Philip Pullman's delightful and illuminating general introduction and an introduction on each of the twelve books of the poem.

This has to be one of the very best on the market which is an absolute delight to own even if you have hundreds of other versions. The twelve great books of poem of the biblical epic is a must for all classics lovers and Milton's Satan/Lucifer is still the most irresistible and charismatic Devil ever.

Milton's great epic poem was written "to justify the ways of God to men", thus telling the story of Lucifer's expulsion from Heaven and Adam's subsequent banishment from Eden. The classic representations of idyllic Eden, fiery Hell, and glorious Heaven are as rich now as when they were first created in 1667.
Paradise Lost is a very complicated, yet rewarding, Epic poem. It is by far the best of its kind in the English language, and where it lacks in original conventions, it more than makes up for it in its pure power of poetry. For those readers of translations who are unable to enjoy Homer's Greek, Virgil's Latin or Dante's Italian, Paradise Lost can offer them a unique chance to enjoy an epic poem in its original vernacular.
However, you must bear in mind that Paradise Lost is one of the most difficult pieces of poetry to read, and is by no means as simple as reading a translation of Homer or Virgil. The language is lexically dense, with complex grammar structures at times. These hurdles will be found considerably easier for experienced readers of Shakespeare, and those who are already aware of common traits of epic poetry.
Milton's use of language is majestic, boasting an impressive metre. The poem is lavished with many famous quotes that have become ingrained into everyday English, with such examples as "Pandemonium" and "All hell broke loose". Paradise Lost is, without a doubt, a must read for any intellectual English reader.
Like all epic poetry Milton's piece of art is highly indebted to Homer's conventions, with typical imitations of the Iliad's list of warriors and the Odyssey's garden of Alcinous. But Milton's debt to the Classics manifests itself as a representation of learned study, (with links to such writers as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Plato, Shakespeare and Spenser), therefore it does not so much as pilfer from great literature, as it instead endeavours to become a part of it.
Paradise Lost offers the epic reader a new form of subject, not just the usual heroes and large battles, but a theme which captivates the reader - the devils fall and man's respectively. The rebel Angels' descent from heaven to hell and Adam's from Eden to a desolate "outside" world, captivate the reader with an intriguing theme: the loss of innocence and the fall into experience. Why must Man sin? What is his relationship to Satan's loss of grace? And where does God's image of himself measure with his own maker? Milton's poem may lack the great Achilles and the gleaming towers of Troy, but it does offer much intellectual food for thought.
This Penguin edition is a rare find of value for money, it is not particlularly inexpensive, but come on ... please bear in mind the tiny price tag on this book - for less than half the price of a DVD you can own the English language's greatest poetic feat!
It is the Miltonic Satan that really comes to the forefront of this poem. The cunning fallen angel, who decides that "All good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my Good" (IV.109-10), is as appealing to the reader as Marlowe's "Nun-poisoning" Barabas the Jew. It is with some guilt that this present commentator must own to rooting for this most infamous baddy throughout the poem. With a display of wit almost as sharp as Ovid or Nonnos, Milton indisputably gives his best lines to God's antagonist. This Devil is not just a superficial evil being, but instead a complex character; one that feels remorse for his fall, love for his close friends, and a harrowing jealousy of Man. What we are given by Milton's villain is not just a rewarding psychological study of Christianity's Devil, but also a commentary upon our own ignoble actions.

This is an excellent edition of "Paradise Lost" to own. The binding and dustjacket are nice, a red ribbon bookmark makes reading it handy, there are gorgeous illustrations before each chapter, as well as introductions by Philip Pullman before each chapter. To understand Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, it is essential to understand "Paradise Lost." Of course, Pullman has his own unique views on Milton's masterpiece, and not everyone will agree with them, but they are interesting to read in any case. Anyway, this is an essential read for anyone who wants a grasp of modern English literature.

There are so many editions of Milton's epic, so how does someone interested in owning a copy choose from the crowd? Unfortunately there are not many "bad" editions of Milton's poetry, so the decision requires effort, and every editor has their own interpretation (which is more or less valid than others') of their author. (Indeed, editors are always like secondary authors.) First a few quick words about NCEs. All have bigraphical, historical, literary backgrounds, and criticism that are outside the text (in this case _PL_) and are useful, or at the least interesting. But I do not advocate the NCE edition of _PL_ for these reasons though they are rewarding. Rather I encourage those who are interested in Milton, _PL_, and poetry to get a copy of the NCE because of its editor's philosophy on footnotes. The footnotes are what separate one edition of poetry from another, and Scott Elledge's footnotes to _PL_ were made with the following prescription: "No one, I think, should interrupt his or her first reading of a poem, or a substantial part of it, by looking to the bottom of the page for help. The best way to read is to listen to the poet , the way one listens to someone speaking; then if one is attracted to what one hears, or is curious about it, one can go back over the poem, or a passage in it, consulting the notes. In my opinion one should read a poem before one begins to study it" (2). Finally, Elledges, footnotes to _PL_ are so rewarding to read because of their etymological emphasis.

Milton is hard to read. The language of the late 1600's seemed impenetrable to me at first, but Teskey's notes helped me through it. Not much has to be said about the poem itself: it is cemented in the canon of the English language as a masterpiece. One thing I was surprised by was the sympathetic construction of Satan. He is not an evil character, he is just angry and even embodies human traits. This edition also includes John Milton's work Areopogatica about the Church of England and their licensing rights. I was moved by Milton's defense of free speech.

This edition of Milton's epic retelling of the fall of Satan and of humans is very nicely printed and affordable. Unfortunately, that's the most I can say in praise of the edition. There are absolutely no explanatory notes, either on textual matters or on literary allusions, even though Milton's encyclopedic knowledge of both the Bible and Classical literature make some kind of notes necessary for the modern reader. I am also a little puzzled at the choice of Philip Pullman to write the introduction. Granted, he is a creative writer himself, and he has a clear appreciation for Milton's work, but he is no Milton scholar. His introduction rather glibly presumes that Blake was right about Paradise Lost--that Milton was on Satan's side without knowing it. Although that is a perfectly legitimate scholarly opinion in itself, Pullman might have been more even-handed in his treatment of a very sticky interpretive problem. All in all, the introduction probably throws more light on Pullman's own work than it does on Milton's.

Just to be clear, my low rating of this item does not imply that the the poem itself is bad. A reader may adore or despise Paradise Lost, but there is no denying that it is a great epic poem, and that it should be required reading of any English speaker who aspires to being liberally educated. But I cannot recommend this edition. Instead, I would suggest that a first-time reader pick up an annotated edition like the Norton Critical Edition or the Modern Library Edition.

After writing the paragraph below, I found an interview with the narrator online, or an article about him. He boasted that he never read a work before recording it. That completely explains the undigested performance on this recording, for which he had the nerve, I presume, to accept payment.
"The narrator understands the text. He speaks well. He understands that a formal, heightened and declamatory tone is required, tempered to the intimacy of one on one. He uses one tune for too many successive lines, eschewing pauses and effects of timing that make clear to the listener when something different is happening. One hears no cadences, paragraphs, or scene changes."

It's hard to find a series in which the author writes better as it goes along, but that's how I feel about the Joanna Brady series. I fell in love with Jance when I read my first book,which happened to be 8th in the series so I found book one and started at the beginning. Each book is a great read on its own,but the way she develops her characters you get the most out of it if you read them in order.

A few days ago I finished Paradise Lost for a book club I'm in. It took me the whole first chapter to get adjusted, but then the book really swept me away. The language is beautiful and the concepts very deep and thoughtful. I can't always agree with Milton's thoedicy, but it definitely provides rich and spicy food for thought. The book requires a lot from the reader, but it's well worth every moment. We also read all 3 books of Dante's Divine Comedy for the book club. I was frequently lost, especially while reading Purgatorio and Paradisio, but Milton is different. You can understand - and enjoy - most of what he says even without the footnotes (though you'll miss 90% of the allusions without them). The poetry is sublime. Like a really great novel, this work hangs over you for days after you finish it, tugging at your heart.

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were indeed grand masters of literature for all time. "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" is enough to put John Milton in the same category. Like Marlowe and Shakespeare, Milton demonstrates extreme scholarship and a superb mastery of the language. It is interesting how Milton takes figures that are mentioned briefly in the scriptures and turns them into major characters. It is also frightening how Milton was able to make God and Satan 3 dimensional as opposed to simply good (in God's case) and evil (in Satan's case). This book is not for everyone. But if you do not mind an unorthodox portrayal of God and Satan and if you want to enjoy beautiful language, superb images, dramatic confrontations, and powerful images, you must read this masterpiece composed with superb and delicate skill.

I used the Norton critical edition edited by Scott Elledge

We will discover in these pages a profound rendering of the cosmic battle between good and evil, man's fall through disobedience to God, and Satan's perversion on mankind.

Each line serves a purpose, so in order to inhale this sublime poem to its fullest it will be necessary to slow down. Immensely valuable to understanding this difficult poem is the editor's explanatory summery going into each of the twelve books (chapters) and the numerous footnotes.

The second half of the book contains a biography, an historical evolution, other writings, and a critical analysis of Milton by multiple revered authors with a wide degree of beliefs.

Wish you well
Scott

Merritt Hughes was a Quaker??
Anyway, despite the date of publication (1962) which leaves the commentary a little outdated, in that it doesn't really address Stanley Fish or Joseph Wittreich or some other big Milton scholars' recent contributions to the subject, this edition is great, for beginning milton readers and more advanced alike. The introduction and footnotes are among the most complete available anywhere with good references to hebrew, classical, and other motifs within the poem. It addresses the ptolemic vs. copernican debate (sun round earth or earth round sun) and Milton's astronomy in some depth in the introduction, maybe beyond what will be interesting until you've finished the poem.
A timeless edition, I would say, which is why its still popular after 40 years, much better than the penguin classic edition.

Milton is hard to read. There's no way around it. He was incredibly well versed in Latin and Greek and the famous epics, and intentionally set out to imitate that style with this Christian poem. Thus, some of the sentences are close to thirty lines or more, and are almost unintelligible at first. I am a Latin scholar, so I am used to seeing this kind of writing, but Paradise Lost could be challenging to the uninitiated. That being said, it is definitely worth the effort. Milton set out not just to tell the story of the Fall of Man but also to "justify the ways of God to men." It is frequently remarked that God is a secondary character and Satan is the most well-developed. I think this may be the same technique used by Dante to draw in the reader and have them commit the same sin as the characters. And this is what is most enjoyable about Milton: trying to unravel the many layers.

If you are a Christian, this book may ask some interesting questions. Milton was definitely pious, but he did have some interesting personal beliefs that may or may not have agreed with doctrine at the time.

If you are just a fan of the classics and great literature, I'm sure you will find Paradise Lost to be among the best poems in history, and certainly the best in English.

Finally, the Norton Critical Edition is superior in that it contains about 300 pages of criticisms and background information, all of which aid to one's understanding and enjoyment of the poem.

The problems with this book are part formatting, part source material. The fomatting is the worst part. There is no reason this book needs to still be in archaic english, complete with nonsensical spellings and grammar. It's incredibly distracting. And there are no quotation marks, meaning the poem goes from narrator-speak to character-speak with little warning. If your focus slips for even two seconds, you will be lost.

This would be more forgivable if the poem itself were an engrossing read. But unfortunately, it isn't all it's cracked up to be. There are definitely some moving passages, but there is also a LOT of dull exposition and scenery description that goes on for far too long. And while some of the characters were interesting, 17th century women's studies hit Eve hard and drag the whole story down around her.

This has some good parts to it, and for a free book, you can read those parts and delete at will. Have fun.

Engrossing, as all her novels are. Since I have lived in Cochise, Pima, and Maricopa counties, it is always a delight to find places in the stories where I have been in or near, and recognize the landmarks or streets.

Add this reviewer to the list of people who hold Paradise Lost up to the lofty title of The Greatest Epic Poem in the English Language; it is not only this, but one of the best in any language. Writing unabashedly in the tradition of unrhymed Homeric epic verse, Mitlon was working well within what was earlier purveyed by Homer, Virgil, and Dante -- but he brings his own distinctive touch and flair to the work. The opening lines of the long poem are clearly inspired by Homer, as are other elements, but Milton has a very unique poetic style; long sentences, often with the principle verb at the end, being one of its mainstays. This language is very grandiose and quite complex; it takes a while to get used to it -- you will have to pay very close attention during the first book -- but, as with most classical literature, once the reader gets the hang of it, it goes quite smoothly. The Divine Comedy of Dante has a more towring reputation than does Milton's Paradise Lost -- for one thing, it is older -- but I among those who find Milton to be superior. The Divine Comedy is, certainly, an undisputed masterpiece, but, where it was, more or less, a satire and a thinly-veiled attack on many of Dante's political enemies, Milton's work deals with much more complex and profound subject matter: why mankind fell, how the gods themselves operate and think, the nature and attractiveness of evil and sin, the importance of love in human relationships, the moral problems of God's justice. It is true that Dante's work is more original; Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, at least in seed, come straight from The Bible. But Milton only uses these stories as a springboard for the exploration of the latent moral and ethical problems lurking beneath. Milton explores these problems with a refreshingly fresh perspective -- strictly within the Christian tradition, to be sure, but far from fundamentalist, and even quite radical for its day. Although some cite the work as Christian apologist, there are certainly many elements within the poem that many of the more hard-line Christians would be taken aback by; it was, of course, even more controversial in its day. One thing about the work that often gets pointed out is that Satan is a far more interesting and appealing character than God. This, in my view, does not have Milton unwittingly on the Devil's side, as some critics have suggested. Rather, he is pointing out how appealing sin is always is: of course it's interesting, of course it's appealing -- otherwise, we wouldn't keep falling for it again and again and again. If we saw its razor-sharp fangs and [dripping] mouth, we would have stopped getting ensnared in its trap long ago. However, as a non-Christian myself, I cannot but disagree with some points of Milton's theodicy; the last two books, in particular, and Paradise Regained as a whole, were, for me, quite hard to swallow. I found the more human elements of the poem to be its most intriguing. Milton paints Adam and Eve as quintissentially human characters who possess many of the same feelings that we all share: joy, happiness, fear, sadness, depression, and, most of all, the overriding paramount importance of love. The act of Adam, who was not himself [evil], eating of the apple so that he could follow Eve, no matter what doom was to befall her and them, out of love for her, is still one of the most touching moments in all of literature -- as Mark Twain, in the voice of Adam, later said, "Wheresoever Eve was there, THERE was Eden." God, Satan, and the various angels are also endowed with human characteristics; most Christians today seem to have forgotten that God created Man "in His own image", and that He is not a perfect creature. Likewise, Satan is not entirely evil -- certainly he is ambitious and narcissistic, but so are many humans -- indeed, many have seen him as the hero of the poem (an errorenous view, as I see it.) God often comes off as extremely cold and hardly forgiving or merciful; indeed, to many readers, myself included, this poem doesn't come anywhere near its stated goal of justifying the ways of Gods to men, but only reinforces the views we already had (Mark Twain, whom I have previously mentioned, has a very different view of the situation, closer to my own perspective, that is worth seeking out.) Whatever one's objections to the theology and theodicy expressed within the poem, the poem remains a great work of literature -- poetic, grandiose, profound, extremely readable, and thought-provoking. The shorter sequel, Paradise Regained, is also included in this edition. This work, in my view, comes nowhere near the glory of it's predecessor, but it is still a good read and it is very handy to have it included in this volume as well. For that reason, I highly reccommend picking up this particular edition of the works; also because the introduction, written by Dr. Susanne Woods, is very good, and it has notes provided by the wonderful Christoper Ricks, who also edited the poem for this version. Unlike many editors, he does not include so many notes that they become cumbersome and distract from the text: they are genuinely helpful and there are not too many of them. This is an absolute classic not only of English literature, but of world literature, and a monument in the tradition of epic poetry that you owe it to yourself to read.

The main character is a stereotype (and all the rest are as well). Not much depth is given to them. Joanna is the typical 'super hard-working, mother, and professional', but she has no personality that makes her different from thousands of other characters exactly like her.
The technical writing skills of the writer are very nice and fluent, in fact it is the only thing that keeps you reading. There are certain things in the plot that are absurd. For example, when Joanna's 12 year old girl sees the dead body...she isn't shocked about the dead body, but she is worried about the fact her mother will find out she was trying a smoke (the girl found the dead body while sneaking out to smoke). The author could have at least made the 12 year old girl worried about getting scolded by her mother, but also a bit shocked about finding a dead body! I don't know about you, but finding a dead body would leave me shocked.
There is also something that i found very disappointing. The entire story is about Joanna going in the car from place to place and doing everything by phone! 98% of the novel is about Joanna on the phone! Don't believe me? Loan it from the library!
I wouldn't suggest this book. Tony Hillerman ("Thief of Time") is a much better book if you like 'desert' style settings for investigative books.

Many people I know, (including myself), have a dismal view of poetry, especially epic poems. Those who have had to plod our way through the excruciating Middle English of the Canterbury Tales, the old English of Beowulf, or the now obscure references of the Roman propagandist's Aeneid are rightfully wary of yet another long tale set to verse.

However, I implore the fence sitter to put aside their prejudices and read this book. Unlike all the other famous epic poems, John Milton writes in modern English. Not only that, his writing is absolutely beautiful and enthralling, even for a modern reader. In addition, unlike other epic poems that may have turned off the reader to this art form, John Milton's subject material is approachable and understandable to the modern reader without having to read other books or notes to inform as to the plot of the story. Why is this so? The Aeneid, the Odyssey, and Dante's inferno were written for different times and audiences. The normal reader cannot approach the first two without substantial background reading in Greek and Roman history (and religion). The inferno spends have its time describing the tortures of Dante's enemies (who you don't know of or care about). John Milton, on the other hand, is writing about the Book of Genesis, a story that most in our culture are well versed in. You'll know the main characters (if not all the minor ones), which will give a grounding for Milton's expansion of the story. Aside for the story itself, Milton's philosophical themes are also more modern than any other famous epic poem. Individuality, disobedience, love, redemption, all of these are common themes that Milton expounds upon. You won't spend many pages concerned with the social structure of a vanished civilization.

To conclude, Paradise Lost is a work of Genius. This book is important for overall literacy (just think of all the books that have taken titles and inspiration from its lines). That usually means that the book will be a pill, but not in this case. Milton's verse makes the lines fly by.

you can't tell from many of the reviews which book is being reviewed, so most of the reviews are worthless. Moreover, the look inside feature is equally worthless because it gives you a different publication so you can't judge if the book you want is right for you.

Paradise Lost, Hackett publisher, edited by David Scott Kastan. This is the best reading edition available, for students and general readers. The introduction is excellent, covering all the major issues. And the footnotes are helpful without being overwhelming. The footnotes, of course, are what really distinguish the different editions of Paradise Lost, and this edition has the best footnotes for most readers.

This is my favorite Jance series. I think with each book we see Joanna mature. And now with Butch, we see her struggle to be sheriff, wife and mother. He has to struggle to be a sheriff's spouse -- with all that comes with that. It was neat getting to see how she saw herself back as a child in how Jenny felt now. I think she needed to remember.
The Arizonz scenery is great as always. Joanna's co-workers are maturing in each book as well. I feel she has a much better raport with them now. Which is how real life is, too. This is a well-written series. Great book.

"'From almost the moment of its publication in 1667, Paradise Lost was considered a classic. It is difficult now to appreciate both how audacious an undertaking it represents, and how astonishing its immediate and continued success was. Over the course of twelve books Milton wrote an epic poem that would ''justify the ways of God to men,'' a mission that required a complex drama whose source is both historical and deeply personal. The struggle for ascendancy between God and Satan is played out across hell, heaven, and earth but the consequences of the Fall are all too humanly tragic--pride, ambition, and aspiration the motivating forces.' In this new edition derived from their Oxford Authors text, Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg discuss the complexity of Milton's poem in a new introduction, and on-page notes explain its language and allusions."

I love the Joanna Brady series by J.A. Jance. I have enjoyed each and every one. I understand this is the ninth in the series and I am still as interested as I was in the first one. I will continue reading each and every one of the Joanna Brady series. I also love the Brandon Walker series, although it is a darker series than this one. Anyway, I won't rehash the storyline as others have already done so. All I will say is, If you pick up this book and begin reading you will not be disappointed.

At least in Paradise Lost. Here, when among his own kind, we find the much-maligned Fallen One to be noble, honorable, brave, loyal, beautiful, eloquent, intellectual, defiant and determined--mostly exact opposites of all we humans have been told of him. Satan, in fact, is all-but perfect, and yet it is his own arrogance that undermines him and makes possible his terrible exile from the paradise that will ever after be denied him. Satan, defeated in his Heavenly rebellion in which one-third of all the Host of paradise sided with him, will throughout eternity be God's foe, and because of this, he hates man, God's greatest creation, with all his being, hence his efforts throughout history to oppress and ruin man's relationship with its creator.

It took me three face-first dashes into this heavier than lead poem, but I'm glad I finished it. Satan is the best heroic villain in English literature, and God is crafty beyond expectations (although He is God, so how can that be possible?) to use Satan's vast pride against him in His plan for man's future. Some say the ebb and flow of Milton's lines here is akin to the notes of a perfectly-tuned pipe organ blasting out music, and I like that description. This is a great tale full of lines so utterly quotable (or at least paraphrased, as in: "better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven") that it amply rewards the exertion it takes to your force protesting mind through it.

Even if you have to take some time off from this HEAVY poem, come back to it. You'll be glad you did.

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a timeless classic. It's imagery, based itself upon 1500 years of previous Christian-cultural imagery, has shaped how the Western world views Christianity, sin, the fall, life, death, heaven, and hell.

The open-minded non-Christian reader would do well to read "Paradise Lost" to become a literate student of Christian imagery. The Christian, willing to work through the descriptive poetry, will gain new insight into Creation, Fall, and Redemption. In many ways, Milton bridges eras (the Middle Ages and the Reformation), cultures (Southern Europe and Northern), and religious groups (Catholic and Protestant).

It's interesting how much "folk theology" owes itself to Milton's "Paradise Lost." Modern views of the Devil, in particular, are often unknowingly based upon the poetic images from Milton. Fortunately, Milton is at his best in describing Satan, first as the unfallen Lucifer with all his glorious, God-created brilliance, and then as the fallen False Seducer in all his distorted and tormenting deceit.

For example, Milton speaks of how revenge, dark requital, propelled Satan's monstrous motives:

To waste his whole Creation, or possess all as our own, and drive as we were driven, the puny habitants, or if not drive, seduce them to our Party, that their God may prove their foe, and with repenting hand abolish his own works. This would surpass common revenge, and interrupt his joy in our confusion and our joy upraise in his disturbance; when his darling Sons hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse their frail Original, and faded bliss, faded so soon (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 40).

Surpassing common revenge, Satan lives to spite the Author of life.

By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence, but from the Author of all ill could spring so deep a malice, to confound the race of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell to mingle and involve, done all to spite the great Creator? (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 41).

Milton's depiction of the temptation in the Garden displays psychological brilliance and biblical insight into the nature of the human personality as designed by God and depraved by sin. Perhaps only C. S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters" matches Milton's understanding of Satanic seduction.

For instance, so whose fault their fall? Milton, imagining God's words to Christ, declares:

For man will hearken to his glozing lies, and easily transgress the sole Command, sole pledge of his obedience. So will fall he and his faithless Progeny. Whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me all he could have; I made him just and right, sufficient to have stood, though free to fall (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 63).

Well put. Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Made just and right and able to choose. Adam and Eve had all they could have from the generous hand of God, yet they transgressed the sole command, the sole pledge of loving, trustful obedience. Loving allegiance they chose to grant to non-god rather than to Father God.

Whatever could possess them to trade their birthright for one bite of the one forbidden fruit? When we last spied earth's Villain, he was tumbling toward hell. Having lost the battle for heaven, his hostility and hate triggers a new plan. Why a second siege on heaven's gates, when earth's shores suggest easier prey? As Milton envisioned it:

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need with dangerous expedition to invade Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, or ambush from the Deep. What if we find some easier enterprise? There is a place (if ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven err not), another World, the happy seat of some new Race called Man, about this time to be created like to us, though less in power and excellence, but favored more of him who rules above. So was his will pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath, that shook Heaven's whole circumference, confirmed (Milton, Paradise Lost, pp. 39-40).

Readers also could benefit from his less known work, "Paradise Regained." Many have mentioned how difficult it is to write a riveting book about Heaven since the drama of evil is defeated and thus the tension is deflated. Yet Milton captures one possible vision of a future Paradise/Heaven as well as most. (Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" is, in my opinion, the best modern book on the topic).

I am listening to this book on CD and am ready to scream if i hear the words Crown Victoria one more time. "I parked the Crown Victoria behind" etc...What's wrong with I parked behind? We'd already been told at least 50 times that she drives a Crown Victoria. And that's only the 3rd of 9 disks.

Really poor writing and insulting to the reader... We get it!! She drives a CV. Who cares? There are other things that are repeated over and over. Does this author get paid by the word?

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till on greater Man
Restore us and regain the blissful seat
Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received.
This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after.
Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim.
John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king.
Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements.
Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n.
(Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!)
The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation.
A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course.

This is arguably the single best work ever written in the English language -- or in any language. Milton sets out to 'justify the ways of God to man' - could there be a bigger task? And comes darn close. The story of God and Satan, Adam and Eve, Paradise Lost is the epic of mankind. Written in blank verse, it is thick and a bit tough to get through at first -- but as with all things, perseverance pays off and soon you'll be loving the verse.
Don't just read it once, though. This is one of those books that is better studied than read -- and there are lots of things you'll get the second, third, fourth time through that you won't the first.
Everyone should read this. That'd be a step toward Utopia.
And yes, I am Generation X.

I was assigned to read Paradise Lost on my own over the summer and I am so glad that I chose the Norton Critical edition. Obviously, reading Paradise Lost is a daunting task for anyone who isn't a religious historian and without the Norton Critical edition, I might not have finished the epic at all (which would be much of a loss, not only in my grades.)
This edition has a vast array of extremely helpful footnotes (have a Bible at hand for all those cross-references) and it has large margins for taking plenty of notes of your own. More than half of the book is a collection of various literature, excerpts and explanations that are also quite helpful.
Certainly, there is no doubt that Paradise Lost is an excellent work, but the Norton Critical edition is invaluable for any average person (like me) who wants to truly appreciate it. I highly recommend this.

There's enough already said about why and how Milton wrote this book, so I don't have anything to say about that. It's a story most people will be familiar with, and any surprises will involve the beauty of the language or a random, surprising insight into a character's motivation. In the end, Milton deserves to be called the greatest writer in English because of the pure strength and beauty of each individual sentence.

This is undoubtedly a difficult book to read. I teach a small bit in a sophomore high school English class, and I tell them, "This will be the most complex text you will encounter this year." We have to practice unpacking sentences one at a time and stating them in our own words in order to get their meaning. It's a slow process, and one that most adults will also need to go through.

But it's all worth it! Reading Milton might or might not change your view of God and man, but absorbing him will change your love of language. The words are vivid and powerful and beg to be read aloud. If you like your poetry Great in the sense of sounding larger than life and tackling humanity's major questions, Milton is it. (And, in my opinion, he even takes out other wonderful poets that I also love, including Dante, Virgil, Homer, and Shakespeare).

Paradise is certainly one of the greatest achievements of English literature. And as an editor, Tesky seems to disregard this fact. First of all, he omits critical punctuation from the poem, which can seriously alter your understanding of what is going on:

"[God} made the stars/ And set them in the firmament of heav'n/ T'illuminate the earth and rule the day/ In their vicissitude and rule the night/ And light from darkness to divide." (VII. 348-52)

This is clumsy editing, and cross referencing other editions will show that the comma between "the night" and "and light" is retained; without it, the sentence makes little sense.

This is only one example of the gross injustices done to Milton's poem: parentheses where parentheses do not belong, misspellings, unnecessary footnotes (literally half of the footnotes you will find merely tell you that two words are elided), and omissions of information that could be helpful. It seems as if Tesky delights in telling you things you either already know or can infer from the context. Tesky's modernization of Paradise Lost is awkward and ill-managed, insulting to the unfamiliar student, and to the memory of Milton.

Tesky does, however, include a glossary of biblical and mythological terms which may be unfamiliar to many (but which were much more recognizable to Milton's contemporaries), and this is hardly found in many editions of Paradise Lost. Tesky also gives critical articles on subjects as diverse as the character of Satan, gender distinctions, and even the agency of the angel Abdiel. While there is alot to learn from this edition, scarcely any of it comes from Tesky himself; he ends up doing more damage than good. In my opinion, stay away from this edition.

I am always glad for an occasion to tread "with wand'ring steps and slow" through the lines of "Paradise Lost" yet once more. When I found out that Gordon Teskey, to my mind the great poet's strongest reader in many years, had edited a new Norton Critical Edition, I knew it was time to travel the path again. As his predecessor Scott Elledge did for a previous generation, Professor Teskey has created an edition and charted a reading experience of enormous richness for contemporary students and general readers alike, and forged a tool of unique value for teachers at all levels. The text is well edited, as it must be, with helpful but judicious modernization of some spelling. The footnotes are measured, thorough but never gratuitously scholastic, to serve the process of active reading. This is not an easy poem and no editor can change that, but one travels through it faster, though steady at speed, with Professor Teskey at one's side. The critical apparatus is also strikingly well done, with modern essays usefully divided by topics, such as 'On Satan' and 'On Feminism', in a manner that will serve all audiences well. Along with retaining essays by past titans of Milton criticism, from Marvell to T.S. Eliot, as well as much of the canonical modern criticism present in earlier Norton editions, this volume includes some of the best critical voices of the last twenty years, among them William Flesch, Regina Schwartz, Archie Burnett, Julia Walker and Mary Ann Radzinowicz. But these new contributions have been chosen, it seems to me, with a very judicious focus on their own lasting canonical value, rather than merely on their more recent dates of publication. Whether out of deference or editorial privilege, Professor Teskey saves the last word for himself in a short selection from an essay that has since become a chapter in his new book, "Delirious Milton" (Harvard, 2006), in which he charts a history of philosophical modernity through an inspired analysis of Milton's view of creation, divine and human. Whether you are coming to "Paradise Lost" for the first or the twentieth time, make this edition your primary text and make Professor Teskey's new study the next book you read. If you do, you'll experience a very fortunate fall followed by a delirium of the happiest sort.

I have read John Milton Biography as well as both novels of Paradise Lost and Regained a few times still can not fully understand the book due to being in both Latin and English one my favorite books.

Milton's masterpieces are heroic complements to the Book itself, portraying both Satan and God in a humanized manner. The story and its essential questions are known to us all, but here they are delivered in full, in the style of Homer. The book is challenging, however. The langauge is dated, and the time investment is steep. For anyone at all interested in Christianity, either personally or historically, there are few better ways to spend your time.

This is perhaps the highest achievement of the English language, so despite an editor's best efforts, it is extremely hard to improve upon. Because Milton was essentially a self contained encyclopedia, the footnotes (which are detailed but not verbose) are very helpful in explaining some of the more obscure references included in the text. My only gripes are that in certain areas (as the editor wholly admits) the syntax has been changed, slightly altering the mood and at times the message I believe Milton had in mind. Also, the in-depth information regarding the names of characters and places that was included as footnotes in the second edition has been moved to a glossary in the third edition, making reference a little more difficult. All together an excellent text however, and one that makes enjoying Milton's genius that much easier.

The twits and turns in this book. I love the characters with each book I learn more about them. Joanna and Butch make me want to keep reading! Can't wait to read the next book to see what mystery is next!

The book stands out not only for its beautiful illustrations by Gustave Dore (unarguably one of the most cherished illustrators of all times), but also for the marvelous quality of this edition.
The book is quite big (at first I thought it was huge) - but it is not so heavy, the jacket bares a label in golden relief, the hardcover repeats the design without the relief quality, the print is fine and so is the paper, the font is well chosen so that it makes the text easy to read, each song has a short synopsis at the beginning so that one can quickly overlook the plot.
AND last but not the least - the insanely high ratio quality/price!!!!! I highly recommend this book to everyone who would love such a valuable volume that could be passed on to generations, in their library, plus it could make a wonderful present! 5 stars from me

I can't add anything to what has already been said. Milton's PL is an absolute joy, and should be read repeatedly. However, as a note to the store, the "sample" for the Kindle, is nothing but the introduction ... nothing of the poetry can actually be seen. VERY disappointing. It may only be $2.50, but I'm not going to pay for something that doesn't have lines noted and a table of contents. This is similar to reading the Bible, you want to be able to go to a specific verse or book ... I'm not reading a mass market paperback that i won't need or want to reference later. Hopefully, this note for improvement is taken into consideration.
All in all, I recommend buying this book, and moreover, this edition for reading Paradise Lost. Pullman's edition is also very good.

This magnificent book was recommended to me by a dear friend through another review here on the store.com. For that recommendation I am grateful due to the pleasure that I have received from it. I enjoyed the audio book rather than the printed version, and as one who listens to hundreds of audio books, I can say that this production through the talent of Anton Lesser, produces dramatic results.

The book, this epic poem, is so beautifully written that it would be a pleasure to read, or listen to, even if the actual content was in some way lacking. But, the content is anything but lacking. For me, Milton points out that God is vengeful, jealous, and ego-driven, almost as though he were human. What father would pronounce the death sentence on his child for eating fruit from a tree (albeit "forbidden fruit")? What father would banish their child from Eden for that same offense? None that I know. Milton shows the God of the Genesis to be harsh and cruel while staying true to scripture.

If you are looking for a book that is beautiful to read, and thought-provoking to ponder, then look no further.

Best wishes, Kevin

The outstanding poem of John Milton, "Paradise Lost" is a monument of world literature. This masterpiece is full of allegorical images and wisdom philosophy. Milton took as a basis the well-known of the biblical myth of the creation of man. He showed Adam as a naive doubters of the men who seeks to know the world. Eva shows as a curious and brave woman. They become instruments in the hands of Satan. But still, who's the victim? They or may be Satan himself? This literary masterpiece stirs the mind and soul. Thank you very much!

First off, I love this book. I discovered it when I was barely thirteen and have reread it almost a hundred times. It inspired me to read more, write my own stories, and major in English. What I do not like is this edition. Some one is lying. The images provided do not match the book. Maybe it's my edition and if that's the case, then some one needs to give this inferior edition a new ISBN to separate it from the edition with Doré and Blake engravings, if that does exist.Don't get me wrong the artwork is good, the amount detail on the angels and humans is stunning; but of course Satan looks like he was hit in the face with a shovel. Where in the poem did it say Satan's hair is made out of snakes? or that he has horns that look like elbow macaroni? I was expecting illustrations of grandeur and rebellion and instead got these stiff and sorry excuses. Be forewarned, you are in for a let down if you are expecting well known illustrations. While these might have been the illustrations from the first illustrated edition,they are not the best.

I've read all of the Joanna Brady novels and I've liked every one. For some reason, I like these better than the JP Beaumont novels she writes that are set in Seattle.
The whole package is enjoyable. From the mystery to the family squabbles that she has to go through. You can really relate.
The mystery itself was enjoyable. I never saw the ending of one part of it coming. It just wouldn't have crossed my mind.

I click on the zero dollar option and nothing happens...I do the same in the ereader Kindle app and nothing happens...I have now clicked every option I can think of. How is everyone reading these free classics on Kindle? New to the app. I realize I am missing something terribly obvious but have become to frustrated to see it.

I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF J A JANCE FOR MANY YEARS.
PARADISE LOST IS UP TO PAR ALONG WITH HER OTHER STORY LINES.
JOANNA BRADY JUGGLING BEING A MOTHER, WIFE AND SHERIFF, TOUGH JOB BUT SHE IS DOING IT. IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE SERIES TRY TO FIND BACK COPIES TO THE BEGINNING I THINK YOU ENJOY READING SHERIFF BRADY'S DEVELOPMENT.

My review is of the library binding edition released by Buccaneer Books. It is a very plain and small volume which is wonderfully bound. It contains nothing but the poem itself (including the prose arguments) with the original spelling and punctuation. That means no notes, commentary, or introduction, so if you're looking for lots of in-text help, this isn't what you want. The Fowler, Hughes, or Norton editions are all laden with helpful material like that. But if you just want to experience Milton's masterpiece alone, this is a lovely edition. I found that the book could be purchased much more cheaply if I ordered directly from the publisher's website.

Paradise Lost is John Milton's epic poem about the fall of Lucifer and Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden. The audacity of Milton opening the poem with declareing that he's going to pursue things unattempted in prose or rhyme and to justify the ways of God to men is enough to get people reading to ifinity. The succsesfull attempt to tell the orgin of Hell and the story of Adam and Eve outside of the bible is a daring mission Milton puts himself through but comes out joyusly triumphant. This poem is such a significant moment in literature that it has become mentioned in various History Channel documentaries and has been put in many prestige formats.
If you see this book on this website, BUY IT IMEDEATLY!

How a blind man could produce such a stunning work is beyond me. Paradise Lost chronicles the fall of Adam and Eve from Eden and the fall of Lucifer from Heaven. It is told in flashback and in current time, by angels and by the narrator. Milton is a breathtaking poet, even on par with the great one Shakespeare and at times surpassing him. The images of heaven and eden and of the war in heaven are astonishing. Then there is what lies beneath: The nature of free will, pride, blind love, and many other things are explored. Don't let the difficulty of the prose or the long length stop you, this is one of the greatest works of art in literature.

This review refers to the audio. Does anybody else have a problem with this narrator? I admit, it kind of ruined the book for me. I just do not think she is very good at all. Very bland. The story is an ok story.

There is nothing I can add to the greatness that is Paradise Lost. A great poem about Lucifer and his war with heaven, his attempt to rise from Hell, life in the Garden of Eden, the temptation and fall of man. This edition has great notes and did a good job with the biography of Milton in the preface. I highly enjoyed this edition.

I was confused by other people's reviews on this book and I'm sure other people have been as well. This is NOT John Milton's epic, but actually a collection of historical criticisms on this work. I ordered this book by accident, basing my decision on other people's comments, but luckily I was glad about what I found. So if you want a perspective of famous views on Paradise Lost, buy this book. But if you want to buy John Milton's classic (which I would recommend as well), buy another book.

Teskey believes that the punctuation of the two editions of the poem to appear in Milton's lifetime has `no authority' (p. xii) as the blind poet left the punctuation to be decided by the person taking dictation. `I have therefore punctuated as lightly as possible, that is, only where for lack of a comma the reader would take a wrong turn and be forced to go back' (ib.).

This sounds innocuous, though one may doubt if Milton would have wished to preserve his readers from wrong turns that have to be corrected. In any case, Teskey's treatment of the punctuation does not correspond at all to the programme he announces here. Far from punctuating lightly, he mutiplies full stops, clogging the progress of the poem, and often cutting Milton's sentences into bleeding ungrammatical segments.

He very frequently adds other punctuation marks where there are none in the original, and sometimes the effect of these is to obscure or distort the sense. He puts a comma in the middle of I, 9: `In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth', creating the confusing impression that `in the beginning' goes with `That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed' (I, 8), whereas the absence of the comma makes clear that it does with the following words as in Genesis 1:1. He puts full stops where the 1674 texts has semi-colons, sometimes bringing the poetry to an abrupt half and breaking its rhythm, as in I, 34: `Th'infernal serpent. He it was whose guile'; the abrupt three-word sentence is not Miltonic style. The full stop introduced in I, 78 leaves the following three lines isolated even though they do not form a sentence:

He soon discerns. And welt'ring by his side
One next himself in pow'r and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine and named
Beelzebub. (I, 78-81)

Milton is a grammatical writer, who does not leave incomplete sentences lying about. Beelzebub is the object of the verb `discerns', from which it is here brutally cut off.

There are some rare exclamation marks in the 1674 text, as in I, 75: `O how unlike the place from which they fell!' Teskey applies exclamation marks lavishly, giving a cartoon-like emphasis to Milton's lines. Examples: `Sad task!' (IX, 13)He even introduces italics for emphasis, something liable to alter radically the rhythm and sense of a passage.

So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate. _There_ plant eyes. All mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

The 1674 text has:

So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

Notice that by dividing the passage into three sentences, Teskey connects the closing `that I may see' only with the purging of mist, not with the more crucial `shine inward' and `there plant eyes'. The italicized `there' is meaningless, since it suggests that the Celestial light might be planting eyes elsewhere instead.

I could go on and on about Teskey's rushed revamping of Milton. I urge teachers NOT to used this flawed edition; Lewalski's edition with the original punctuation (Blackwell, 2007) or the richly annotated edition of Alistair Fowler are vastly preferable.

I teach Paradise Lost in a grad lit course and I've tried a few translations, sometimes side by side. This version is the one I've landed on as a steady choice. The poem is exciting and weird and surprising and entertaining (especially the first half), and also very deep, suggestive, full of allusions and ideas. BTW, I always tell my students (esp the women) to not identify only by gender (if I don't say this they are so angry about the things said to and about Eve that they come into class mad at Milton and Adam), but to take the whole story as their own, to imagine all these characters as contained within each reader. It works.

I reluctantly studied this at university but once I started reading I could see how wonderfully rich the text was. There was so much to it. Milton took a section from Genesis where there was little description and he gave great thought to it. Perfection was not a simple issue, and paradise was not a simple place. Milton, in some ways, "filled in" what wasn't mentioned in Genesis. Perfection and paradise are complex ideas that we probably can't completely comprehend (since we're all imperfect).
And then the all time issue of Satan vs God... I thought Milton did a great job of representing this.

All in all, I highly recommend this great epic.

_Paradise Lost_ will of course continue to be reproduced, but the content will essentially remain the same. The question is which of the countless number of editions to purchase. Fowler's editing and copious yet useful annotations are first rate for any single edition of PL. Though most publishers treat epic poetry as though it were pulp-fiction, Longman dignifies this volume in binding better than most hardcovers, for they have sewn its acid-free leaves in signatures. It is simply beautiful, and it is simply the best edition if one wants to study Milton's epic carefully.