tfelmet 's review for:

Paradise Lost by John Milton

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Highly recommend watching the Yale University Open Course for Paradise Lost on YouTube as you read!! Having an entire free college level literature class recorded and accessible is an amazing resource!! I found the added insight and context extremely valuable in terms of comprehension and appreciation for Milton’s work. I’m not giving this a star rating because it doesn’t really compare to anything else I’ve ever read… some of the Books I enjoyed more than other. I had heard, as I think most people have, that this poem presents a very sympathetic Satan, and I would say that storyline was the most compelling. As a woman, I of course also found myself empathizing with Eve. Book 4 was the one that made me the most emotional, and the most plot probably occurs in Book 9. After the fall, it’s a lot of Bible recap and references that I had to confirm with Google to make sure I had my stories right. Outside of Bible references, there are also lots of references to classical mythology (Greek and Roman) and Milton’s contemporaries. His relationship with other “greats” and his ideas about their works are super interesting.