A confession: I have never read Paradise Lost from beginning to end. I’ve read bits of it. I’ve read Lycidas and some of the sonnets. But in The Guardian today, Claire Tomalin makes a passionate case for reading Milton.It’s hard to argue with. Milton is difficult, dense, allusive, and takes a lot of effort, but work and patience, as ever, seem to bring great rewards, as Tomalin shows. So this month, I am going to read Paradise Lost from beginning to end. I’m going to take my time and make an effort to understand what’s going on – both in terms of narrative and in terms of how the poetry is working. I have an annotated Paradise Lost (Longman paperback) on my bookshelf. I’ve just pulled it down. I’ll post my progress and reflections through the month. Anyone want to join me in reading the poem?
9 comments:
Tempting. I might just try, though I doubt I'll manage it in a month. I've read very little Milton indeed (only a couple of the sonnets) but have been meaning to read Paradise Lost for a long time.
I read PL some years ago; some in my teens, the rest in my twenties. It took a while! Also Paradise Regained. I own several ancient calfbound volumes from both poems, dating back to the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, beautifully illustrated but hard to read at any length for fear of damaging the pages.
I think reading alongside you is an excellent idea; it's been so long since I read it, I'm sure it will seem very new to me. I'll give it a try; nudge me if I forget to join in the comments though, as I'm always juggling about ten tasks at once and some inevitably slip away from me.
Interestingly, I was at the 'Poetry Makes Nothing Happen' debate at the Bishopsgate Institute last night; my husband (a former Quaker and raging socialist) made a good point about the ecopolitics and dissenting nature of Milton's work which the environmental writer Caspar Henderson picked up on. So, a little moment of serendipity there!
I've read it. It took me more than a month, though. I think I'd recommend you allow yourself at least three.
To read Paradise Lost in one month is a matter of reading approximately 300 lines a day. While Milton is certainly not the easiest poet to read, 300 lines, even with notes and annotations, is a reasonably manageable chunk, and the more of him you read, the easier it becomes to read him.
Of course, I'm biased, having taught Paradise Lost in its entirety several times.
And I'll be joining in.
Can we do dante's Commedia next?
That's great! I really have to finish it this month, as April means NaPoWriMo. Whether I will manage it is another matter.
Howard, I've read Dante's Inferno (Pinsky's translation, which I really enjoyed), but not the other parts of the Divine Comedy. I wouldn't mind having a go. But not until later in the year.
Ah the Commedia! I read it about six or seven years ago in Dorothy L Sayer's translation. Took me ages to get through all three books, but it was definitely worth it.
Not sure 300 lines of Milton a day is doable for a man with a busy job and a small child, so I'll almost definitely end up trailing the rest of you, but happily so.
Rob, you could always substitute Milton for NaPoWriMo ...
Does this make March PaLoReaMo?
It would take 3 months, and probably more, to do Dante. I've read several translations all the way through (Ciardi's -- the standard for many years--, Sayers', Binyon's, and Singleton's prose version) as well as others in part (Pinsky's Inferno, Musa's Inferno, W. S. Merwin's Purgatorio, as well as chunks of Longfellow's and bits of a couple of others). In fact, I was just about to start Musa's complete blank verse Commedia when you suggested Milton, so I've put D. on hold. Reading through the entire Commedia at least once in a lifetime is an experience not to be missed.
"Not sure 300 lines of Milton a day is doable for a man with a busy job and a small child"
Yes, I'm not sure. I managed OK today, but I'm off work on Saturdays and I had a few hours all to myself this afternoon. I might have to run into April. But I'll see how things go.
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