Customer Reviews

Milton's Paradise Lost

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 edition of the book is not for the first-time reader. It's big, it's elegant, and its designed for those people that have read and studied Paradise Lost and want an edition they can be proud of (without editor remarks and helpful tidbits). It really is a beautiful copy of this book, the pictures are engravings, incredibly detailed too. A Must Buy

It's not too often that one gets to hold a really nice edition of anything. This edition of "Paradise Lost" has heft for sure, is well constucted (don't you hate it when pages fall out of a book cheaply made?)and the design and typography are first class. It also has really quality illustrations from Dore And at this price, how can you lose? I have books costing 10 times as much that are no better made than this one. A really nice piece of work. As pointed out above, there are no notes but I would expect that anyone who would be attracted to this edition already has Fowler's annotated edition already on the shelf. If you don't, ya otta.

This is a very nice edition of Paradise Lost. It is a good deal for the $20.00 price. As far as the poem itself, Milton does an excellent job at creating a believable dialog between biblical figures. Although his many references to other literary works can become difficult to understand (unless you have read them) Paradise Lost is a must read for any person.

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

Regardless of edition, Paradise Lost is one of the finest books ever written, and possibly my favorite. While the subject matter is Christian, the book's greatness transcends religious categories, and I would recommend it equally to secular readers. It is uniformly spectacular in describing heaven, earth, and hell, angels and mortals. However the portrayal of Satan is particularly remarkable. At the start, though at his lowest point, he appears an idealistic hero - championing freedom and the power of the human/angelic mind against a more powerful oppressor. However, as it says in the beginning, his "high words [bear] semblance of worth not substance." As his situation improves, he's revealed as a hypocrite enslaved by his own pride, who increasingly disgusts even himself.

As others have pointed out, this is a beautiful edition of the book, well bound with big type. The Dore illustrations are a huge plus, and for me it's hard to imagine buying an edition without them. Blake's are the only real competition, and done in a very different style.

For the text, there are two issues that may be a challenge for first-time readers. One, as noted by others, there are no annotations. Honestly, vast sections of the book go by with nothing you'd want to look up anyway. A couple parts have tricky allusions (part of Book I comes to mind), but they're few enough to look up elsewhere, and Milton usually spends a couple lines giving you the gist of what he's referring to.

The second issue is spellings, which are modernized. While unneeded, this generally makes reading slightly easier without altering pronunciation. For "ed" endings, modern pronunciations (winged) are spelled normally, while the extra-syllable form (wing-ed) is indicated by a grave symbol. When "the" appears before a vowel, this edition doesn't specify whether to elide (as in, th'Aeonian mount). Hence you either have to infer based on the number of syllables (usually 10 per line) or simply ignore the issue. I was concerned at first, but upon reading it's barely an inconvenience at all. All or most of the other elisions remain explicit.

Overall, this is a superb edition, and perfect if you want a nice hardback containing the Dore illustrations.

I am thrilled with this book. The artwork is wonderful. The book arrived in perfect condition. I am very happy.

I love this book because if includes all of the illustrations associated with the literary work. Any they look so much better on a larger scale that in the smaller print books.

This is a very handsome edition of Milton's Paradise Lost. It is a large format book with well crafted introductions, eligant print and beautiful illustrations. It was a great purchase.

This is a great edition of this book at an amazingly low price- one that you will be proud to display. This is a large book with detailed illustrations. I had originally purchased another edition of this book which was not as nice at a book store at twice the price. I returned this for a refund after discovering this book on Amazon