John Milton Books

This book takes a fresh look at Milton's lifelong creation of poetry as a divinely inspired response to personal situations of crisis -- a pattern similar to and informed by the poetic invocations of the Psalms of the Old Testament and the Confessions of Saint Augustine.

It amazes me how, every 6 months when I read this book, it has changed since the last time I read it. This is the book that, when I met the author in person, started me on my journey of personal development and excellence in Network Marketing. John Milton Fogg is a master story teller and networker who has penned this industry classic that has inspired me and millions of others. I include a copy of this book with every new person's start up materials who joins my team. It's that important.

This is a very easy and fun read that contains so many GOLDEN NUGGETS!!! A great guide for the Network Marketer that wants to get back to basics in their business and truly remember why Network Marketing is such a fabulous opportunity for self evolution.

I have no idea why I bought this book. I'm not in network marketing and I don't plan to be. Something inside me just said - get the book - so I did. I couldn't be more glad I listened to my inner monologue. This book is relevant to anyone working in any industry where they deal with people. Yes, that's most of us. I loved the simple take homes especially those about children's sport. Amazing, insightful and a breeze to read and absorb.
Kirsty Dunphey, author:Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can

This book is great. I have been involved in network marketing on and off for about 20 years and this is the first time I have read a book that tells a story like this one does. Whether you are failing miserably and ready to give up or want to know a resource you can recommend to your team, this book is a great read. I couldn't put it down.

Though the books intention is to lead the reader into considering one's mindset in marketing, it is too tedious when it could have been more directly to the point. If you like human interest stories, it is OK.

I liked the book, clearly written, full of anecdotes and with the history of economic thought flowing from Adam Smith to nowadays.
Economics made simple and with an easy to understand linkage to the events that shaped the world.

It has its problems and there is some annoying stuff but it is immensely valuable just by spelling it all out and naming so many names.

This author managed to write an interesting economics book. The book contains the history of economic thought, and details about the quirky lives of famous economists. The author believes in the "no wasted sentences" style of writing.
He writes in a Will Durant type style where every page is a mixture of fact, opinions and wit. After every chapter, a reader can feel that He really learned something. Purists would say it is better to read the original text by the economist, Then use this book to find out what economist to pursue. I really enjoyed this book, that provides a lot of bang for the buck, Knowledge nuggets ripe for the picking.

I'm using this book in my courses on History of Economic Thought. My students love it. They are first attracted to the unique, off-beat style of the book that starts each chapter with music selections to put you in the mood that is suitable for each character, each philosophy, and each period of history. The students love the quirky twists in the lives of each of these personalities, making them all very real and human. This is important because too many books of this genre extol historical figures as superhuman or supertrash. Instead, all of these figures come alive as real folk, ones with whom any student could feel comfortable engaging in discussion. I recommend the book highly for class or for just being entertained while delving into the grand issues and debates that are the foundation of current public policy. It is a fun fair for the intellectual.

Skousen has written an interesting but badly flawed history of economic thought from a libertarian pespective .There are many anecdotes about the peculiarities and foibles of many of the economists he covers that are worth the purchase price of the book alone.All major economists of the last 300 years are covered in a greater or lesser fashion.

The first serious intellectual problem with this book is that Skousen has read only bits and pieces of Adam Smith[Wealth of Nations(WN),1776] and John Maynard Keynes(General Theory,1936).Contrary to Skousen,Adam Smith is not a libertarian.Smith is a conservative, in the sense of Hamilton,Washington,Franklin,Madison,and the Adams brothers.This group is called the Federalists in American history.This group supported a strong federal government ,independent central bank,revenue and retaliatory tariffs,etc..Smith would be an opponent of the Anti -Federalists(Mason,Randolph,Jefferson,Paine,Henry,etc.,supported a weak cental government,no central bank,and no tariffs for any reason)Skousen is an Anti-Federalist.The anti federalists are,of course,libertarians.Skousen essentially covers the first 100-150 pages of the WN.He skips about 800 pages.The following facts will be discovered by readers who actually read WN in its entirety.First,Smith favored the establishment of an all powerful,independent,central bank so that it could set a low,fixed rate of interest, permanently in the long run,at what would today be the prime rate of interest.No rate greater than the prime rate could be charged.Second,Smith combined this policy with the condition that projectors(Keynes's speculators of chapters 12,17,and 22 of the GT),prodigals,and unwise risk takers be prevented from obtaining credit/bank loans so that the savings savers had put in the banks, to loan out for future investment, were loaned out for productive,physical investment that would add to the wealth of nations and not the speculative finance of Wall Street brokers,bankers,and stock market analysts whose activities ,according to Smith,waste and destroy the savings by the creation of bubbles which,when they crash,cause severe negative,undepletable externalities and spillover effects that destroy the wealth of nations.Second,Smith was always a proponent of both retaliatory tariffs, as long as there was any probability greater than 0 of getting the offending country-industry to repeal the tariff,and revenue fariffs.Third,Smith was a proponent of progressive taxation.Fourth,Smith understood the severe problems of free market failure,insufficient public goods provision by the private market sector,and insufficient expenditures on education,which would be provided free of charge by Smith to all who could not afford it.Finally,Smith's system of moral sentiments condemned the libertarian philosophy advocated by Skousen.It is not surprising that a reader of Skousen's book will find NONE of this to read in the book.Skousen has very stong a priori beliefs that were possibly passed down to him by his libertarian father,Cleon Skousen.These beliefs are not testable.Skousen's views are ultimately anti scientific because he refuses to consider as empirical evidence the work actually done in economics by Keynes and Smith.Skousen has his own private interpretation.

The chapter on Keynes is as bad intellectually as the chapter on Smith. For example,Keynes never supported any kind of deficit financing/increase in the national debt at all at any time in his life .Economists who believe this are similar to the flat earth believers still around today.Keynes's major policies,explicitly discussed in chapters 22,23,and 24 of the GT ,are directly founded on the wisdom of Adam Smith-Fix the interest rate on loans at a low permanent level.Period.Keynes was an opponent of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies because they would increase the uncertainty in which firms and entreprenuers operated.Finally,it is the uncertainty of the future that creates the sub optimal outcomes that can be observed to occur periodically in the amount of investment and the capital stock.True Keynesian policies seek to create institutions which reduce this uncertainty as much as possible.Only Daniel Ellsberg,with his 2001 exposition in "Risk,Ambiguity,and Decision",has advanced technically and intellectually upon the systematic exposition of uncertainty presented by Keynes in chapters 6 and 26 of the A Treatise on Probability.This exposition serves as the foundation for Keynes's macroeconomics in chapters 5, 12,17,and 22 of the GT,as well as Keynes 's summary of his GT in a 1937 article published in the Quarterly Journal Of Economics.

Brilliant literature!
I recommend all books by this author.
I also love the fact that the publisher, 1stWorld Library has made the text slightly larger which is a blessing for my thirty-something eyes. Great job. I have dozens of books by this publisher.

I also recommend EVERY DAY A MIRACLE HAPPENS or MIRACLES OF THE SAINTS by Rodney Charles or Rodney N Charles. Both Published by 1stWorld Library or 1stWorld Publishing.
The Second Declaration
Every Day A Miracle Happens
The Secret Meaning of Names
Lighter Than Air
The Devil's Disciple
Les Miserables, Volume I & II
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO Vol II
PUBLISH IT NOW
Book Marketing Basics - The New Model For Promoting Your Book
Illumination: A Gnostic Handbook for the Post Modern World

How hard would it be to include the poem's lines? Without lines it's impossible to cite. They should know better than to omit the numbers. They also seem to write in huge print and are incapable of fitting an original line as one line. Terrible quality.

This is a sequel to Paradise Lost. It also is written as classic literature.

This book is about when Jesus was baptized and the temptation in the wilderness.

Recommend reading at several sittings.

This is what illegal drugs will get you "Paradise Lost," even if it is regained!

The star rating is given purely for the edition of Paradise Regained published by First World Library. This book is every bit as fascinating as its predecesor Paradise Lost, however I highy dissuade you from buying this particular edition because the words are in size 14 Times New Roman, thus extremely difficult to read, and it is much too expensive for an edition of its quality.

The guy that gave only 1 star to this book has no clue what he's talking about. Erickson was a genius and it was not in his content, but in the form he used.

This book and the other part of it are an explanation and demonstration of Erickson's true skill - reshaping a person's thought patterns. Bandler and Grinder have modeled Erickson in this work and in other non published NLP related works, and this is where you see actual "magic" in Erickson's style of therapy.

It's not the stories, it's not the miraculous improvement of his patients - it's the artful manipulation that Erickson was a master of.

I highly recommend this book and anything else related to Erickson's life and work. By merely reading Erickson, you get better in communicating effectively with others.

Enjoy!
Shlomo Vaknin, editor
NLPWeekly magazine & community

This book will introduce some of the foundations needed to fully understand NLP. It acts as a great goto reference as you continue to learn beyond the scope of this book.

This is an amazing book but if you are not into the finer details - don't buy it.HOWEVER. as a therapist it is invaluable - both for hypnosis and indeed neuro linguistic programming,. but then again why not for sales or marketing too? It is also very useful if you are a script writer as it takes you from the verbal patterning through to non-verbal communication.. no therapist's book shelf should be without this and number 1

If you ever wanted to learn NLP or hypnosis then this is the center of the vortex. Everything about modern persuasion goes back to the unassuming Milton Erickson. Everyone from Richard Bandler to Tony Robbins owes a great debt to him.

This and the second volume is the definitive guide to hypnosis. What out though it is not an ordinary book. It is for doctors as such. Meaning that if you haven't come across the topic of hypnosis then read up on it before getting this book. Very technical. Saying that, that means that this is where you learn the heart and soul of hypnosis. It is not step by step for getting people into hypnosis it is the understanding of hypnosis, which leads to a better hypnotist.

I have read "Paradise Lost" four times, and took no less than three semesters on it at university. This was the edition we used to work. Modernised spelling, coherent punctuation (plus variations of it in the notes), good introduction, and enormous work in the notes; this edition has all you need for a good reading of the epic poem.

As to the poem itself, some people are hard on it for all the wrong reasons. Remember that it is a 17th century poem, that English was not exactly similar as it is today, and that there are many, many words which were first used in English in "Paradise Lost". Milton was innovative with words, and he gave English new words, and expressions, such as the most famous "all Hell broke loose", which was first uttered in "Paradise Lost".

A poem like this cannot be read without good notes, and this is what this edition has to offer. Notes aren't enough, though, they have to be good, and in this edition, they are. The poem itself is not burdened by the numbers of the notes, because there are so many, the editor decided not to show them in the text per se, but at the end of the book, you will always have the reference, the lines, which the notes are about.

As to the poem itself, if you don't know it, you certainly know of the story of the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve, and the rebellion of Satan in Heaven. I'll only say that Milton's God is one seriously problematic figure in the poem, and that it caused centuries of academic discussion as to whether Milton's God is a good God or a devilish one, whether "Paradise Lost" was truly a "myth", in the old sense of a story which explains why we're here and how it got to be, or whether it was an attack on Christianity. Scholars still discuss this today, so make your own mind if you can!

Penguin Classic Editions of any book are truly great. One should also note that Signet Classics is also Penguin but this version should only be brought if Penguin Classics is not available. Of course, one has to evaluate one's purpose for the book but Penguin always has notes and good Intros for their books.

I purchased this book for a paper in which I had to choose a chapter and write about it. This version is really clear but is written as Milton would have written it so some of the old English is annoying but there are notes and major parts. The only problem I have with this edition is that there are no chapter titles so you really do not know what each cahpter is about unless you read it.

There's enough already said about why and how Milton wrote this book, so I don't have anything to say about that. It's a story most people will be familiar with, and any surprises will involve the beauty of the language or a random, surprising insight into a character's motivation. In the end, Milton deserves to be called the greatest writer in English because of the pure strength and beauty of each individual sentence.

This is undoubtedly a difficult book to read. I teach a small bit in a sophomore high school English class, and I tell them, "This will be the most complex text you will encounter this year." We have to practice unpacking sentences one at a time and stating them in our own words in order to get their meaning. It's a slow process, and one that most adults will also need to go through.

But it's all worth it! Reading Milton might or might not change your view of God and man, but absorbing him will change your love of language. The words are vivid and powerful and beg to be read aloud. If you like your poetry Great in the sense of sounding larger than life and tackling humanity's major questions, Milton is it. (And, in my opinion, he even takes out other wonderful poets that I also love, including Dante, Virgil, Homer, and Shakespeare).

One of the many results of the increased literacy rate is the ability for every Tom, Dick or Harry to consider themselves literary experts and to opine on the supposed faults of great literature, presuming that it should serve merely their basest pleasures. The correct response to such vulgarity is to rebuke, letting them make their solitary way till one greater man restore them. Before the charge of arrogance is levelled against me, I must too opine that this attitude of literary snobbery should be applied to each one of us when we approach the genius of Milton and Paradise Lost, relenting to the sensation of humility as this epic poem enters our mind. Only by reading in such a frame of mind, can one truly appreciate and enjoy the poetry of Milton.

Paradise Lost is Milton's attempt to recount the debacle of Satan in Heaven, and his role in the Fall of Humanity. While Milton grandly presents his work as an attempt to `justify the ways of God to men' regarding His motivations for our expulson from Paradise, the focus of Paradise Lost is firmly upon Satan and his emotional turmoil at losing Heaven, only to see a creature of dirt replace him as God's focus. From a Catholic perspective, one of the faults of Milton is that his anthropomorphism of the devil is almost too convincing, making Satan appear as a tragic, almost pathetic figure, rather than the merciless deceiver that he is. That is not to say that Milton portrays the devil in a positive frame, but attempts to offer reasons of insecurity, envy and self-righteous hostility for Satan's path of destruction; all too human traits, as many readers will find disconcerting.

As some have noted, while one's grasp and love of the English language should improve at the behest of Milton's poetry, it is unlikely that one will find any theological inspiration from this work. Heresies abound in Paradise Lost; hardly surprising due to the unorthodox religious convictions of Milton. Without condoning such-in my conviction-wicked ideas, one should attempt to read Milton, not as a theological treatise or an attempt to historically describe the Fall, but as a courageous attempt to venture into the midst of the spiritual, the power of emotion and the capability of both unto despair.

A classic which all will do well to read.

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a timeless classic. It's imagery, based itself upon 1500 years of previous Christian-cultural imagery, has shaped how the Western world views Christianity, sin, the fall, life, death, heaven, and hell.

The open-minded non-Christian reader would do well to read "Paradise Lost" to become a literate student of Christian imagery. The Christian, willing to work through the descriptive poetry, will gain new insight into Creation, Fall, and Redemption. In many ways, Milton bridges eras (the Middle Ages and the Reformation), cultures (Southern Europe and Northern), and religious groups (Catholic and Protestant).

It's interesting how much "folk theology" owes itself to Milton's "Paradise Lost." Modern views of the Devil, in particular, are often unknowingly based upon the poetic images from Milton. Fortunately, Milton is at his best in describing Satan, first as the unfallen Lucifer with all his glorious, God-created brilliance, and then as the fallen False Seducer in all his distorted and tormenting deceit.

For example, Milton speaks of how revenge, dark requital, propelled Satan's monstrous motives:

To waste his whole Creation, or possess all as our own, and drive as we were driven, the puny habitants, or if not drive, seduce them to our Party, that their God may prove their foe, and with repenting hand abolish his own works. This would surpass common revenge, and interrupt his joy in our confusion and our joy upraise in his disturbance; when his darling Sons hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse their frail Original, and faded bliss, faded so soon (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 40).

Surpassing common revenge, Satan lives to spite the Author of life.

By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence, but from the Author of all ill could spring so deep a malice, to confound the race of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell to mingle and involve, done all to spite the great Creator? (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 41).

Milton's depiction of the temptation in the Garden displays psychological brilliance and biblical insight into the nature of the human personality as designed by God and depraved by sin. Perhaps only C. S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters" matches Milton's understanding of Satanic seduction.

For instance, so whose fault their fall? Milton, imagining God's words to Christ, declares:

For man will hearken to his glozing lies, and easily transgress the sole Command, sole pledge of his obedience. So will fall he and his faithless Progeny. Whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me all he could have; I made him just and right, sufficient to have stood, though free to fall (Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 63).

Well put. Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Made just and right and able to choose. Adam and Eve had all they could have from the generous hand of God, yet they transgressed the sole command, the sole pledge of loving, trustful obedience. Loving allegiance they chose to grant to non-god rather than to Father God.

Whatever could possess them to trade their birthright for one bite of the one forbidden fruit? When we last spied earth's Villain, he was tumbling toward hell. Having lost the battle for heaven, his hostility and hate triggers a new plan. Why a second siege on heaven's gates, when earth's shores suggest easier prey? As Milton envisioned it:

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need with dangerous expedition to invade Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, or ambush from the Deep. What if we find some easier enterprise? There is a place (if ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven err not), another World, the happy seat of some new Race called Man, about this time to be created like to us, though less in power and excellence, but favored more of him who rules above. So was his will pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath, that shook Heaven's whole circumference, confirmed (Milton, Paradise Lost, pp. 39-40).

Readers also could benefit from his less known work, "Paradise Regained." Many have mentioned how difficult it is to write a riveting book about Heaven since the drama of evil is defeated and thus the tension is deflated. Yet Milton captures one possible vision of a future Paradise/Heaven as well as most. (Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" is, in my opinion, the best modern book on the topic).

I suppose I could be thankful that this edition did not try to update Milton's English. The software that comes with it is just a .doc file; a hypertext document linking outdated words to definitions or mythic references to explanations would have been far more useful. The book itself is in a pleasing font, but the binding is weak and pages easily fall out.

This stunning epic poem of the fall of both Lucifer & man from God's good grace is full of all the self-indulgent goth agony to fuel a lifetime of bitter recrimination and despair. Woe is everybody!

Some parts of this book are good, some are boring. Its is very slow reading because of the heroic verse form. So be carefull.

Rating Paradise Lost on a 5-star chart is not even fair.Some books are not to be rated at all, `cos they do deserve more.Paradise Lost deserves your time and your mind.

I read Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass and "The Subtle Knife", the first two books of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is based around the idea of a second War in Heaven and another Fall. They are really incredible. While waiting for the third book to be released, I decided to read Paradise Lost, one of Philip Pullman's main inspirations and the source of a lot of the allusions. Paradise Lost is surprisingly readable for a book that was published in 1667. I understood it, even with the older edition I read which didn't have much of a readers' guide, and I'm only 15. Even though you don't always understand every word and every mythological allusion, you can always get the basic idea, especially with some help from the footnotes. If you read it alone, you might find it boring, but I would strongly recommend reading the His Dark Materials books first. They discuss a lot of the ideas in Paradise Lost. (Was Satan right to rebel against God?) Then when you read P.L., you will enjoy seeing where Philip Pullman got some of his ideas. You can't help but like the His Dark Materials books, then when you read Paradise Lost you understand them so much more. Everyone over the age of 14 should read them both.

If you are reading this I am assuming you have read Paradise Lost. If you have read Paradise Lost, and not read any other Milton, I suggest you do so because, a) it will give immeasurable insight to certain portions and ideas of PL, and b) Milton thoroughly addresses things which are startlingly prevalent in today's world - but this is a digression. I only ask if you've read other Milton to say that if you have, it is pretty easy to debunk the theory that Satan is the "good-guy".

Lewis, I think rightly, is on the side who think Satan is a bad guy, and not the hero of the work. It is a common tendency for readers who sympathize with Satan to place him as the hero of the work; but Satan only reflects the rebellion of human nature and estrangement from God. Do we empathize with Satan? Of course, and this is to be expected. We are fallen creatures, each with a little "Satan" in us. But I am getting preachy.

Lewis displays his methodical writing ability and analyzes certain historical, theological, psychological implications within PL. It is difficult to sum up, but Lewis reacts against the notion that Satan is the hero, corrects various misinterpretations (as he believes) other critics have attributed to the work, and so on.

Overall, if you're interested in reading criticism about criticism on PL, I would suggest this. And do not be afraid if you aren't extremely knowledgeable with the history of the Church and its doctrine. Lewis is informative without being overly pedantic (but keep in mind, he is a scholar).

As a man who spent the entirety of his childhood avoiding the repeatedly assigned Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (i got very good at making my tests look like i'd read it, as im sure many grade school students do when its assigned year after year, i think we even did it in high school), i always associated Lweis' name with BAD. And then i discovered Milton, and his Satan, and Lewis re-entered the picture.

His preface to Paradise Lost is largely a defense, mostly against the attacks of contemporary and irreverant poets like Pound and Eliot who criticized Milton extensively, especially for his Latinate syntax. Lewis engages Eliot specifically in one chapter that reads like a very wordy rap beef. If you ask me, Eliot, certainly the better poet, is out of his element in the crit ring, and Lewis smokes him good, at times you might shout "OHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Far as his approach to the poem, he lays out the foundation for a modern understanding of Milton, namely a reverence for ritual and heritage, and an appreciation of epic and narrative poetry. His chapters on Homer Virgil and Beowulf are valuable and enjoyable reads worth the price of admission themselves. His criticism is highly intelligent but never overwhelming or tangential, it is systematic and thorough while still retaining a smooth readability. Easily one of the most valuable studies of Milton to come out of the 20th century.

There are many approaches to criticism of Paradise Lost. None is more in the spirit of the poem as Milton wrote and intended than C. S. Lewis's Preface. Lewis's spirit is in harmony with Milton's and his Preface is a masterful explication of the greatest poem ever written. It is a delight to read and, as Lewis wished, urges one on to read the poem itself, with greater understanding.

This work is considered a classic of Milton criticism. I began the book with great expectations and must admit to being somewhat disappointed. Lewis sets out defining the 'epic' as genre, and explaining why Milton chose this form. He also traces the history of the Epic giving special emphasis on the turning point in the form made by the 'Aeneid'.He also outlines the stylistic peculiarities of Milton which helped give shape to his Epic. The latter part of the book is a discussion of the Themes of 'Paradise Loss' and considers among other things, the relation of Milton's work to the thought of Augustine, the role of Satan in the work, that of Adam and Eve. Lewis tends to the view that the Arian Milton did not attempt to force his own religious views on the Poem, but rather was concerned with the Poem's achieving its artistic and moral end.
There is an important chapter on 'Heirarchy' which shows how for Milton as for Shakespeare this is a key conception in their worlds. Lewis is a chamption of Milton's discipline, and shows how his stylistic brilliance created a continuous motion and form for the poem. The great Miltonian sentence in all its complexities is central here.
There is much to learn from this work about Milton, and also about Lewis.
I find that it did not however provide the kind of overall picture of the meaning of the Poem that I certainly thought it would.

While other reviewers have already touched on many key tenets of this fabulous little book, I may be able to enumerate or elaborate a little yet.

The real stuff of this book you must read for yourself, but I can at least adumbrate some general ideas he touches on.

1) A short, lucid, and highly informative introduction to epic _qua_ epic. Style, content, form, all the essentials. What makes Homer Homer: what it means. Where Virgil deviated: why it matters. Where Milton deviates: why it matters. &c.

2) Lovely interaction with contemporary "New Criticism." I. A. Richards meets the classical scholar (Chapter VIII).

3) Quintessential societal and philosophical criticism peppered _throughout_. You wouldn't think you'd be able to quote Lewis on the fatuousness of certain "sacred cow" tenets of "progressive modernity" in a book on Milton, but it's here--and moreover, each little epigrammatic jab is perfectly felicitous and apposite. Only Clive! Each one yields great laughter and reflection.

4) Some _excellent_ and _original_ universal literary criticism. It is my opinion that many excerpts of this book should be included in Literary Theory anthologies. He treats such overarching topics as reading, poetry _qua_ poetry, criticism _qua_ criticism, authorial intent, &c. &c.

5) His criticism of Milton's Satan is pretty much the coolest thing you'll ever read. I'll leave it at that: you must read it for yourself! I've read the chapter on Satan four times it's so good.

That's enough for now. Buy and read!

Teskey believes that the punctuation of the two editions of the poem to appear in Milton's lifetime has `no authority' (p. xii) as the blind poet left the punctuation to be decided by the person taking dictation. `I have therefore punctuated as lightly as possible, that is, only where for lack of a comma the reader would take a wrong turn and be forced to go back' (ib.).

This sounds innocuous, though one may doubt if Milton would have wished to preserve his readers from wrong turns that have to be corrected. In any case, Teskey's treatment of the punctuation does not correspond at all to the programme he announces here. Far from punctuating lightly, he mutiplies full stops, clogging the progress of the poem, and often cutting Milton's sentences into bleeding ungrammatical segments.

He very frequently adds other punctuation marks where there are none in the original, and sometimes the effect of these is to obscure or distort the sense. He puts a comma in the middle of I, 9: `In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth', creating the confusing impression that `in the beginning' goes with `That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed' (I, 8), whereas the absence of the comma makes clear that it does with the following words as in Genesis 1:1. He puts full stops where the 1674 texts has semi-colons, sometimes bringing the poetry to an abrupt half and breaking its rhythm, as in I, 34: `Th'infernal serpent. He it was whose guile'; the abrupt three-word sentence is not Miltonic style. The full stop introduced in I, 78 leaves the following three lines isolated even though they do not form a sentence:

He soon discerns. And welt'ring by his side
One next himself in pow'r and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine and named
Beelzebub. (I, 78-81)

Milton is a grammatical writer, who does not leave incomplete sentences lying about. Beelzebub is the object of the verb `discerns', from which it is here brutally cut off.

There are some rare exclamation marks in the 1674 text, as in I, 75: `O how unlike the place from which they fell!' Teskey applies exclamation marks lavishly, giving a cartoon-like emphasis to Milton's lines. Examples: `Sad task!' (IX, 13)He even introduces italics for emphasis, something liable to alter radically the rhythm and sense of a passage.

So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate. _There_ plant eyes. All mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

The 1674 text has:

So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. (III, 52-4)

Notice that by dividing the passage into three sentences, Teskey connects the closing `that I may see' only with the purging of mist, not with the more crucial `shine inward' and `there plant eyes'. The italicized `there' is meaningless, since it suggests that the Celestial light might be planting eyes elsewhere instead.

I could go on and on about Teskey's rushed revamping of Milton. I urge teachers NOT to used this flawed edition; Lewalski's edition with the original punctuation (Blackwell, 2007) or the richly annotated edition of Alistair Fowler are vastly preferable.

what joy to read galaxian epics, large in their characters, profound in their language, jumbo-gigantic in their theme! for this work concerns nothing more than the salvation of mankind, the source of all our toxica, the origins of reality's thrash of contradiction, decapitation of sense, the justice of God's infinite bewilderment and a host of other themes, some limpid, some latent. yet the true irony of this story, although milton eventually loses interest in him after his hallow triumph is greeted in inferno with the hiss of snakes, is that the author's sympathies, obsessions and fascination lies most in the character of satan! for did not milton jail-suffer at the hands of the restoration of the house of stuart? the blind english word-smith thus explores in depth this cosmic character of rebellion! for he himself most likely also from time to time longed to attack authority, shirk government decrees and restore to power the creed that he thought would best help mankind rose-flourish and ivory-prosper! here we witness satan's frustration, his nails of soul, his menace of catastrophe! here we read of satan's inappeasable torrent of rats as he witnesses adam in the garden, content, at ease, pax surrounding him and satan thus languishes, yearning for the former splendo-times he passed in celestium. and when adam does finally eat of the apple and is thus exiled from eden's rapture - what hiròshimum! what blight! for he laments his fall from grace in a torrent of mental cacophony and quickly sets about to blame eve for his slither among adders! but the work's most rubylicious feature is its language! how rarely do we encounter whole stories written in iambic pentameter verse! and milton embellishes his cosmic tale with all sorts of unexpected syntax, rioting images and flaxen parallels!

author of Lorelei Pursued and Wrestles with God

a riveting book for the philosophy of good and evil

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is the best work of literature in the English language, bar none. Christians and non-Christians alike should marvel at the vision presented by Milton. He is not a Satanist, as the Romantics would have you believe. Indeed, he is a devout Christian. This is what makes the work so extraordinary. Milton's vision of the astral world invokes various responses from the reader, all of them genuine and some contradictory. No matter who you are or what you believe, you will thoroughly enjoy this imaginary look into the events surrounding the fall of Lucifer and the beginnings of man in the Garden of Eden.

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till on greater Man
Restore us and regain the blissful seat
Sing, Heavenly Muse...
Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received.

This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after.

Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim.

John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king.

Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements.

Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n.

(Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!)

The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation.

A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course.

This edition includes more than 50 pages of Milton's other poetry, including sonnets; there are also extensive sections of the KJV biblical text that directly relates to themes in Paradise Lost. Dozens of essays of literary criticism, from the likes of Voltaire, Dryden, Blake, Keats and Wordsworth as well as contemporary commentators such as Bloom, Frye and Adams complete this critical Norton edition.

When ordering this book I made note that it was available to ship immediately. When I was sent my confirming e-mail the ship date was not for 3 days after my order date. It didn't actually arrive for 2 weeks after that. Not that big of deal- except that my book club met on the day it arrived! Guess you need to REALLY plan ahead. Still haven't read it, as I'm on to the next club selection...

While I've not finished reading this treasured piece of work I know that I plan on keeping my signed copy and will buy more as gifts. I'm a 40-year-old woman who easily falls into the workaholic mode. It's refreshing to curl up with the most well-written, moving biography I've ever read.

A beautifully written novel of the pressured, wonderful life of a major Spanish/Catalan composer and his artistic era (1885-1915).

I was enchanted by the story of Enrique Granados. He was, I believe, both a tragic and an heroic character. But the tragic nature of the man is what will continue to haunt me: everything that he did to himself or that fate dealt him, the irony suffusing his relationships with the women in his life to the absent-mindedness that caused him to lose a telephone number at the worst possible time.

Milton's writing style is quite intriguing, combining as it does a pleasing pace with an obvious love for his subject, both the person and his place and time. Moreover, the scale of Milton's research, bringing life to every nook and cranny of the narrative is astounding! I found myself re-reading certain passages just to be able to nearly smell, as well as to see and hear, what was being described. I listened to the CD with fascination.

Granados' music is certainly worthy of Milton's book, and, I believe, vice versa!

-- John Martinson, Houston, Texas

"I just finished the book, as the wonderful music of Granados played in the background. I love the book. I was reluctant to finish it for a very long time, preferring to have multiple endings in my head--I did like the ending--it fit their lives together after going through so much. The book is superb--the way characters were developed and stayed true to your vision of them--the descriptions of the characters, and the way they looked in the moment added so much to the reading. And you didn't overdo it--I was never tempted to skip over descriptive passages the way I usually do. The story line was lovely and compelling--I hope some day that it is a movie. Having real artists and musicians of the time as part of the story added to the book's authenticity. You added wonderful touches of mystery which lead to the multiple endings I imagined--which one of the loves would he end up with--or someone new? I liked that the book was so romantic--I appreciated that even though Granados was somewhat of a cad, he wasn't cruel, and always managed to come off as a gentleman. Thank you for the wonderful story and music--both enriched my life."

Marie Scheer, Coon Rapids, MN, USA