Paradise Lost: A Poem, in Twelve Books, Volume 1J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper; and for S. Birt, C. Hitch, J. Hodges [and seven others in London], 1750 |
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... and there is another intitled Letters concerning poetical translations , and Virgil's and Milton's arts of verfe , commonly afcribed to Mr. Auditor Benfon : and of both these I have made fome ufe , as I have likewife of the learned ...
Dupré de S. Maur ; but nothing showeth the weakness and imperfection of their language more , than that they have few or no good poetical verfions of the greatest poets ; they are forced to tranflate Homer , Virgil , and Milton into ...
... and on his waking in a morning would make her write down sometimes twenty or thirty verses and being asked whether he did not often read Homer and Virgil , the understood it as an imputation upon him for ftealing from thofe authors ...
But because it was neceffary for the reader to know what had happened to him in the taking of Troy , and in the preceding parts of his voyage , Virgil makes his hero relate it by way of epifode in the fecond and third books of the ...
I muft obferve alfo , that , as Virgil in the poem which was defigned to celebrate the original of the Roman empire , has described the birth of its great rival , the Carthaginian common - wealth : Milton , with the like art in his poem ...
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Chronicles the rise and fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Begins with the crowning of the Son of God, moves to Lucifer's rebellion and fall, the beginning of the Earth, the birth of Adam and Eve, and how they fell prey to Satan's fraud.
Written in 10 syllable per line prose, which must have been very difficult. Milton was blind, which makes the accomplishment even more amazing. Parts of the book were wonderfully written (the battles with Satan, Eden, the creation of the Earth, the coming events as Adam and Eve are escorted from Eden by Archangel Michael), but others are difficult with many references to Greek characters. I'm sure Milton was brilliant, but those parts don't add much for me and make it seem as though he's being pretentious. I also disliked the way all the characters addressed each other: "Lo, great angel from Heaven, graceful and true of spirit." The pictures of the story in the book, while they received vast praise in the preface, were forgettable.
Still, I can't get away from the amazing work that Milton put here. My only real compliant was the blatant sexism that Adam had for Eve, assuming she was always inferior to him. That is no longer the way of the world, and I doubt Adam would have treated Eve thusly. Sin, Death. Satan, Michael and Raphael were my favorite characters, all providing memorable lines.