Customer Reviews

Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)

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This edition of Milton's epic retelling of the fall of Satan and of humans is very nicely printed and affordable. Unfortunately, that's the most I can say in praise of the edition. There are absolutely no explanatory notes, either on textual matters or on literary allusions, even though Milton's encyclopedic knowledge of both the Bible and Classical literature make some kind of notes necessary for the modern reader. I am also a little puzzled at the choice of Philip Pullman to write the introduction. Granted, he is a creative writer himself, and he has a clear appreciation for Milton's work, but he is no Milton scholar. His introduction rather glibly presumes that Blake was right about Paradise Lost--that Milton was on Satan's side without knowing it. Although that is a perfectly legitimate scholarly opinion in itself, Pullman might have been more even-handed in his treatment of a very sticky interpretive problem. All in all, the introduction probably throws more light on Pullman's own work than it does on Milton's.

Just to be clear, my low rating of this item does not imply that the the poem itself is bad. A reader may adore or despise Paradise Lost, but there is no denying that it is a great epic poem, and that it should be required reading of any English speaker who aspires to being liberally educated. But I cannot recommend this edition. Instead, I would suggest that a first-time reader pick up an annotated edition like the Norton Critical Edition or the Modern Library Edition.