Customer Reviews

Paradise Lost

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The annotations in this version elevate it to a level above that of other Paradise Lost prints. Since this version runs about $20 more than other respectable versions (Signet Classics) I was hesitant about purchasing this Hughes version. However, I was immediately impressed with the amount of and the quality of the textual annotations. Milton's text is so enriched with allusions that a reader not seeking the sources of them is missing out on the full impressiveness of Milton's writing. The introduction by Merritt Y. Hughes (Editor) is both informative and enriching to the reader; it is further enhanced with its inclusions of illustrations that reflect Milton's world cosmos. Finally, a major inclusion in this version (missing in many low-cost versions) is Andrew Marvell's poem, On Paradise Lost. For reading Paradise Lost, any version will probably suffice. However, for the reader that truly wants to analyze and interpret, this New Edition of Paradise Lost is bloody excellent. Read on...

Let's face it. Reading Milton is no cakewalk. Oscar Wilde once said a writer was a "prose Milton" then added, "but so is Milton." That's why Anton Lesser's reading is genius. It's so genius, it demonstrates the genius of Milton. Laura Paton can't quite match Anton in his Shakespearean crispness and demonic force, but she only reads the few speeches of Eve.

Yes, it's an abridged version. But when they say abridged, they barely mean it. Whole books are included on the three (THREE!) CDs and ones that aren't read fully are here in Milton's own summaries. I recommend getting the NORTON CRITICAL EDITION OF PARADISE LOST to read along with this (although everything that's read is included in a booklet that also comes (!) with the CDs. The Norton Crit has the full text (should you want it) along with good footnotes and essays.

This is all so well done and so mindbogglingly cheap for how long it is (four hours!), I'm a little baffled why I hadn't heard of it before. Every English teacher will tell you that Milton should be read aloud. So why not have Anton Lesser do it for you? He does it so dern well.

Paradise Lost, with its majestic but formidable language, is a masterpiece more often endured than enjoyed. Anton Lesser's superb reading in this Naxos Audiobooks recording brilliantly brings the poetry to life, infusing each character with a unique personality. Most impressive is his reading of Satan's speeches, wonderfully capturing the fallen angel's beauty and degradation. His agony when first beholding the happiness of Adam and Eve, and his humiliation at assuming reptile form, are worth the price of the audiobook. Though the recording is abridged, lovers of poetry will enjoy the bardlike meeting of actor and verse, and students will appreciate its accessibility and use of musical transitions.

I am only 16 years old, and I read this book for interest's sake last fall. I liked it so much that I asked for it for Christmas--and got two copies! This book is a masterpiece. Though many people consider Shakespeare to be an even greater literary genius than Milton, I think that Milton was the best of the time. His ideas and the way that he fills out the story is amazing. He has so many unique ideas and thoughts! I had to stop all the time during this book to ponder the truths of what Milton wrote. I definately recommend this book--to readers of any age!

Naxos audio maintain their high reputation with this excellent production of Milton's classic; wonderfully read by Anton Lesser, with Laura Paton as Eve.

Paradise Lost can be a difficult read. Personally, I could never get round to comitting myself to the book, but this reading really brings it to life, and is well worth spending the time and money. Milton creates many wonderous and fantastical images and characters. Satan is shown as a tragic hero, tormented by the innocence of Adam and Eve, and prompted to revenge. Milton actually uses his characters to play 'devil's advocate' (literally!) by asking many paradoxical questions of the biblical story. Considering this book was first printed at the height of the witchcraft paranoia of the seventeenth century, it's amazing he managed to get away with it.

Full of allegory and layers of meaning, this is a CD set you can enjoy again and again.

I had to read selections of this book for my English class this semester and I'll be honest I didn't think I'd like it at all. I expected to skim through it and be bored out of my mind, but to my surprise I loved it! I actually read the whole thing, and for a college student that's amazing (at least for one like me). A fresh and intriguing take on the familiar biblical story of the Fall of humanity (and Satan). I found the depictions of Hell and the war in Heaven to be especially interesting.

This is an outstanding edition of Milton's classic work. Kastan provides references for words that have fallen out of modern day usage, making the text easier for today's reader to understand. The text is full of extensive footnotes, providing clarification, background data, and, for further study, references to Milton's original sources. The font size and paper quality of this paperback text make it a pleasure to read and transport.

This is an ABRIDGED VERSION.
Amazon.com does not mention that anywhere in the promotion.
What's on the CD is good. But there are whole 'Books' (Chapters) 'paraphrased'.
It's like buying the 13 oz. pound of coffee.
Coffee's great, it's just not what was represented to be.

Worth 13.99, but know it's not the whole thing.

I listened to several other readers of Paradise Lost and decided on this one. Ralph Cosham's voice fits the words and the story and is easy to follow and visualize. Great job

Milton in Paradise Lost unfurls a morning star banner heralding the cosmic story of the fall of angels and men in language eminently civil. I am sure that Homer and Dante were Milton's schoolmasters yet Milton almost exceeds them in the slendid language and poetry of this epic creation. Philip Pullman said "No one, not even Shakespeare, surpasses Milton in his command of the sound, the music, the weight and taste and texture of English words". This is a poem of majesty and sublime lyricism as in Milton's description of Mulciber falling:
"from Morn
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summer's day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star".
Each book of Paradise Lost is introduced with an argument, or summary. These arguments were written by Milton and added because early readers had requested a guide to the poem. Milton's purpose in this masterpiece is to tell about the fall of man and justify God's ways to man. When the angels battle in heaven at one point they pull up mountains and hills and throw them at each other: "So Hills amid the Air encounterd Hills Hurl'd to and fro with jaculation dire, That under ground, they fought in dismal shade." After their coup attempt in heaven Satan and the other rebel angels are lying stunned on a lake of fire. Satan rises from the lake and makes his way to the shore. He calls the other angels to do the same, and they assemble by and above the lake. Satan tells them that all is not lost and tries to cheer his followers. Led by Mammon and Mulciber, the fallen angels build their capital and palace Pandemonium. They decide to get at God through his new creation and Satan sets off on this mission. In reading Paradise Lost the poem reads the reader while being read. What I mean is that Milton lets his readers go awry in their affections and he corrects and instructs those misreadings as well as anticipates them. In this way the poem becomes a live text with meaning apprehended through the interplay between the peruser of the poem and the text itself. Milton allows the reader to subjectively question the justice of the current religious paradigm and then leads them back to the perspicacity of deity. Ultimately Paradise Lost is Milton's paean to a vast pattern in the universe, the disruption of that pattern by rebels, and the weaving of those rebellion threads back into an ever more beautiful tapestry.