![]() ![]() It really does reek of the tools used by rulers to oppress their subjects and stifle curiosity. Secondly, the chastisement of those seeking knowledge. I looked hard for some saving graces in the text, but while Eve has depth, ultimately I found the messages about women uncomfortably antiquated. Foremost, the role of women, weaker and subservient to men. Though this is not to say that I was comfortable with everything presented. ![]() But do we really have to tie in rules that say we have to believe in holy ghosts and heavenly kingdoms? It seems like such a pointless waste. I found myself struck by the relevance of many of the themes. It is clear that Christianity, or at least Milton’s interpretation of it, has a lot to offer. It angers me that a story as deeply affecting as this has to, according to the leaders of many religions, be taken not as allegory but as fact. Milton tackles some of the deepest questions about what it is to be human with a clear and persuasive logic. The scenes he spins are as clear and dazzling, or as dark and terrifying as the subject matter. The writing is breathtaking and leaves me, an atheist, in the awkward position of finding it perfectly plausible that it was, as Milton claimed, divinely inspired. I recognised myself in Adam and Eve, and indeed in Satan, who is portrayed as a complex but understandable evil. Milton takes what I always considered a bland and tedious subject matter, the fall of man, and turns it into a romping story with cataclysmic battles, horrific monsters and disarmingly human characters. From the start, with Satan crashing headlong into hell, I was gripped. Not only have I found this in Paradise Lost, which has now taken the place as my favourite piece of mythology, but I would say this is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Having been enthralled by the myths of Vikings and of ancient Greece and Rome, I always suspected that Christianity had a bit more to offer than the limp moralising stories I encountered at school and through the Venerable Bede. This problem almost turned me off the audiobook before I'd really given it a chance.An awe-inspiring book read flawlessly by SV Anyone who wants to focus on just Book V of Paradise Lost, for instance, has to do a lot of work to figure out where he or she should start listening. That said, it would be of great help to students if the publisher would label the recorded segments with the specific book (and maybe even line numbers!) from which the reading was drawn. Listening to this recording helped me, I believe, experience this book as its 17th century author intended, rather than as my jaded eyes had seen it before. The actors in this project could not have been better, and perform their roles with great dignity, and without the slightest irony. Having listened to this recording, I am amazed at the difference truly great readers make in the meaning of a story. Also, to a modern mind (or at least to my mind) some of the descriptions of Adam and Eve and their time in the garden seemed almost campy. I was not a great fan of Paradise Lost before, largely because Eve annoyed me so (she looks to Adam for leadership, while he looks to God), and some of Milton's inventions (mainly those surrounding the character of Sin) seemed gratuitous. I found myself revisiting this story recently, having last read it almost 30 years ago. Paradise Regained, published in 1671, tells of the temptation of Christ by Satan as he wanders in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. John Milton's epic, biblically-inspired poems are wonderfully dramatised for BBC Radio starring Denis Quilley as Milton, Ian McDiarmid as Satan and Robert Glenister as Christ, enhanced by specially composed music.įirst published in 1667, Paradise Lost describes Satan's plot to ruin God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind, and recounts the temptation of Adam and Eve and their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Out of chaos shall come order and out of darkness shall come light. ![]() The highly-acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Milton's epic poem telling the story of the fall of man and also its sequel, Paradise Regained.
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