Lecture 0 | How To Read Paradise Lost for Beginners

Lecture 0 | How To Read Paradise Lost for Beginners | Paradise Lost in Slow Motion

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4 ай бұрын

The spring 2024 course "Paradise Lost in Slow Motion" has begun! Hosted by the ‪@AntrimLiteratureProject‬, this beginner-friendly course encourages slow, careful, deliberate readings of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Reading one book per week, we’ll complete Milton’s epic in one semester.
In this video, I talk about how to read Paradise Lost. What's the best way to experience it as a poem? What should I do about all the allusions and classical references? Is this a work of art that only "experts" can enjoy? These are some of the questions and concerns we address. Then I turn to the epic invocation (Book 1, lines 1-26). Along the way, we’ll learn something of Milton’s life and times and what the poet is trying to accomplish in this poem, and what it offers us. No matter who you are or where you are, this poem has something for you.
Works Referenced:
Samuel Johnson, Preface to Shakespeare (1765)
Charles G. Osgood, Poetry as a Means of Grace (1941)
Barbara Lewalski, "The genres of Paradise Lost" in The Cambridge Companion to Milton (8th printing, 2008)

Пікірлер: 56

@jeremiahunderwood8448 12 күн бұрын

I love that Adam explains the academic terms related to augmented study/ exegetical study of a text. But, what I love most is his soul remains his guide; even telling his audience to not worry about the footnotes, then provides credible sources backing up his claim. Lol...

@jbrycostv6293 3 ай бұрын

Hi there! First of all, let me tell you I am not a native English speaker and I certainly do not know how English poetry works but I know how poetry does, at least that's what I think I am triggered by the opportunity to learn the structures and know how to find my own path through this ¨garden¨. I appreciate videos like this that guide people into introspection and self-development. Thank you I wish we had content like this in Hispanic poetry.

@TheNutmegStitcher 4 ай бұрын

I did not get into the conversation group, but I'm still very much looking forward to the lectures modeling close reading. Thanks for sharing! I have never gone beyond book 1, and I'm ready to stroll through the entire garden. And I'm convinced that Milton's muse that he petitions is the Holy Spirit. ❤ I can hear Genesis 1:1-2 in that line, as well as the prayer all Christians bring to God-- where I am blind and ignorant or wrong, shed your light. What I couldn't bring to my very first encounter with Milton in 1993 was biblical literacy nor love for Scripture. I look forward to seeing it now through the lens of 31 additional years in the Bible, perhaps to defamiliarize the Scriptures to freshen them as well. And to finally discover and see Milton's influence in later poets. Better late than never.

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

Great thoughts! I hated having to limit the group! The next time I offer it, let me know if you can join, and you'll be included. Thanks for the great comment!

@christopherduffy8804 18 күн бұрын

Starting the lecture series on Paradise Lost today and joining the Patreon group later tonight after the kids go down, totally thrilled you are doing this!!!

@liamathew3260 Ай бұрын

adam you'd make a great yoga instructor, but loved this so much

@lightseeker6762 4 ай бұрын

Hello from France 🇫🇷 You're a great teacher and what you're sharing with us here on this channel is really precious, like a treasure 🙏 God bless you! I hope to use some of your videos for inspiration in my own English classes when I'll teach next year (well if I get my exam 🤞).

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

That's wonderful! Good luck on your exams, and thanks for the kind note!

@briancregan407 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Adam for taking the time to do this.i am looking forward to it. I really admire your idealism and passionate commitment to sharing your love of literature with people outside the academy

@raf571 4 ай бұрын

Thank you very much Adam for putting this up on You Tube. I am currently on book 6 of PL and will very happily re-read along with you all. Indeed English is my third language 🇮🇹, but I am absolutely enchanted by Milton's prose.

@justinwerth 4 ай бұрын

Totally agree with your opening statement about all of us being together at the same time to discuss this great work. Thanks for the great topic and discussion.

@nealandjuliejohnson9642 4 ай бұрын

Very well done and I’m looking forward to more of your talks. I agree full-heartedly about not jumping to the analysts and critics. I’m reading it for the first time and just got to Book 7 where he lets us know which muse he’s talking to in the invocation.

@bernig 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for posting these, so excited to do this.

@johntuffin3262 4 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for this. You obviously love Paradise Lost and it is wonderful to have your comments and illumination.

@HisDarlingAbsurdity 4 ай бұрын

I just bought a copy!❤ the timing is impeccable 👌

@ralphjenkins1507 3 ай бұрын

Excited about this literary journey!

@EverymanPondering 4 ай бұрын

I swear you’re in my head- last week right after reading some John Donne you post a video on it, and this week I started paradise lost on Monday and you post this… madness!

@Tolstoy111 4 ай бұрын

Milton’s influence was massive but it bears mentioning that there was a parallel tradition with poets like Dryden and Pope. They went out of fashion with the Romantics.

@EyeLean5280 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for this! I've been wanting to read PL for decades.

@barneysoldierson54 4 ай бұрын

I just got this book a month ago but it looks really overwhelming, this video came in the perfect time , thank you!

@augustosarmentodeoliveira3023 4 ай бұрын

auch an important course. people should go back to reading the classics more. in times like these, where everything is so fast and superfluous, it's important to unplug and go back to the texts that form (for better or worse) western culture. I'd like to suggest, just for future reference, the portuguese epic "Os Lusíadas" (The Lusiads) from Luís de Camões published in 1572. it gets lost in translation between the other epic poems like the Comedy, Paradise Lost, Orlando Furioso etc. I don't think there is a lot of material about Camões in english but if you can read spanish or italian, it's a start. keep up the good work. abraços

@RCSVirginia 4 ай бұрын

To @augustosarmentodeoliveira3023 At the moment, I am reading Daniel Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year," whilst trying to wade through Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." After I finish Defoe's work, I plan to start on Landeg White's translation of Luis Vaz de Camões "Os Lusiadas." Whenever I need a break from what I am currently reading, I take a look at a few of the tales from Sir Richard Burton's "Thousand Nights and a Night."

@Gaypinga 4 ай бұрын

Omg! I just started reading Paradise Lost today and you’ve dropped this video c: Excited to learn more about the work and thank you for all you do

@paillette2010 4 ай бұрын

Gosh, I haven't read this since 1979 formally. Thank you! I had to memorize the first 26 lines for my prep school English Literature class. The day! LOL.

@srilankarelaxation5889 4 ай бұрын

I love this so much ❤ Thank you 🙏🏻

@abooswalehmosafeer173 4 ай бұрын

Love it.

@519djw6 4 ай бұрын

*I appreciate the way that you present your videos on literature very much. I am now trying to do something along the same lines--but unfortunately, I am "technologically challenged."*

@hephaestusfortarier249 4 ай бұрын

The siloa's brook part was cool, i didnt know that. I'm going to follow along in paradise lost with these lectures.

@jamesduggan7200 4 ай бұрын

It sounds as if you've found some sort of sponsorship, at least I most certainly hope that you have. One must never pretend that in life there are no ordinary existential requirements to satisfy before we can fully explore a verbal work of art like Paradise Lost. It's a wonderful topic, and I wish you the best of luck reaching the points you hope to make. Thanks!

@genevievechaput2552 3 ай бұрын

Bonjour, merci infiniment pour cette série, j'en suis à ma deuxième écoute. Je n'avais jamais entendu parlé de ce livre, now I need it . Merci again Bonne journée 😊

@user-vl3bs2uq4t 4 ай бұрын

I am from Russia. My English is very awful. But You tell so incredible interesting that I listen and listen this video (I don’t want to watch the video with subtitles. This is my principal). And I understood it finally!!! I am very glad this fact!!! I like the subject this talk (Christian religion, Bible, Lord and devil, kind and evil). I am excited!!! Thank you for your work. And very sorry for my grammar mistakes…

@closereadingpoetry 3 ай бұрын

It's wonderful to have you here. Welcome!

@mattfraser9108 4 ай бұрын

This is sick, I am just discovering this and will catch up by the next lecture. First timer but I have a signet classics edition that I never read. Thank you sir…

@closereadingpoetry 3 ай бұрын

Welcome! So nice to have you along for the journey!

@vehement-critic_q8957 4 ай бұрын

I'm a practicing Muslim from Kuwait & I find the poem somehow not only restricted to Christians, I mean, a universal theme is noticed, & that's the purpose of literature to emphasise that humans of different cultural & geographical backgrounds might have much in common even in their differences. I recognised the alliteration in the first 2 verses, the /f/ sound (first, fruit, forbidden) as if it's a hidden message intended or not. Going to download the book & catch up with you guys!

@mikeaguero2875 4 ай бұрын

i appreciate you my G 🙏

@otartaro1 3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@TrollsFormers05 4 ай бұрын

Adam, this was seriously the best poetry class I’ve ever watched. I know it isn’t your area of concentration, but I’d be delighted if you offered a course on Homer and Virgil.

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! I'll talk a little about Homer and Virgil in my upcoming lectures on the Harvard list. But I'm definitely not as an expert in classics.

@PokhrajRoy. 4 ай бұрын

It sounds like a fun course to attend.

@Khatoon170 4 ай бұрын

Thank you mr Adam for your wonderful cultural literary channel. I gathered main theme of poem and poet biography briefly here it’s paradise lost has many themes freewill , obedience, revenge, pride . Main theme Milton confronts his will is question of freewill , predestination or whether or not humans make their own choices or whether they defeated. This poem published in 1667 tells biblical story of Adam and Eve fall from grace , Milton uses themes to explore sequence of obedience how human begins can be redeemed through faith in god . The poem illustrates how he considered Adam and Eva to have within themselves capacity to with stand temptation, but that they chose not to. Paradise lost poem based on fictional story of Canadian surfer nick ( josh chutcher) living with his brother in Colombian jungle who falls in love Maria Escobar. Her uncle is Pablo Escobar ( Benicio deltoro) who welcomes nick to family and they live in his vast estate. Paradise lost written in blank verse . It’s one of greatest poems in English language.

@geoffreycanie4609 4 ай бұрын

"That with no middle flight intends to soar" It sounds like an allusion to Dedalus or Phaethon in the Metamorphoses - but unlike those failed heroes, the poet aims to succeed by grace

@closereadingpoetry 3 ай бұрын

Love that connection!

@Khatoon170 4 ай бұрын

John Milton ( 1806- 1667) he was English poet , intellectual. His epic poem paradise lost written in blank verse and including ten books, was written in time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It’s addressed fall of man , including temptation of Adam and Eva by fallen angle satan and god expulsion of them from garden of Edan . Paradise lost elevated Milton reputed as one of history greatest poets . He also served as civil servant for commonwealth of England under council of state and later under Oliver Cromwell. I hope you like my synopsis. Best wishes for you your dearest ones .

@abooswalehmosafeer173 4 ай бұрын

I am getting there very slowly.

@jeremiahunderwood8448 12 күн бұрын

I'm probably the dumbest person watching these lectures, but I'm like a kid getting chocolate bars handed to them over and over. The chocolate doesn't melt, it waits for me to eat it.

@Johnny_tundish 4 ай бұрын

how to read paradise lost. step one: don't ... "milton wrote english like it was a dead language because he was chok-a-blok with latin" -Ezra Pound. Milton ruined english poetry for 100 years with paradise lost. (tongue in cheek of course it is important verse, just go carefully.)

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

Hah. Could teach a whole course on Milton and his haters! It's probably true that Romanticism created the taste and sensibility by which Milton is appreciated today. The same could be said of Shakespeare.

@Johnny_tundish 4 ай бұрын

idk about saying the same of shakespeare. For one he was a much better craftsman and i think you could argue improved poetry and the english language, pushing it forward. Where milton drug it backwards. There is a freshness and moderness and most importantly a naturalness to the language of Shakespeare, even at his most formal he doesn't sacrifice natural syntax. where milton never hesitated to sacrifice syntax and the natural rhythms of spoken english for the sake of form. @@closereadingpoetry

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

@Poke_runs that Milton is appreciated today largely by Romantic-Era taste and sensibility could be said of Shakespeare, is what I'm saying. Obviously, I don't agree with the critical opinions of Pound, Eliot, and F.R. Leavis that you tout here. Christopher Ricks's Milton's Grand Style (1963) conclusively redeemed Milton from their dismissal IMO.

@Johnny_tundish 4 ай бұрын

@@closereadingpoetry to dismiss Pound and Eliot for Ricks who wrote no verse seems sacrilege to me haha "never trust the criticism of one who never published anything of value themselves". - il miglior fabbro

@closereadingpoetry 4 ай бұрын

@Johnny_tundish Several problems with that perspective. (1) It's not right to assume that only artists have something valuable to say about art -- as if poets are only allowed to evaluate each other's work. (2) There's also the fact that many poets besides Pound and Eliot have esteemed Milton's Paradise Lost a great contribution to the English language. What to do about those poets? Or are Pound and Eliot the only two poets whose judgments matter? (3) The worth of a critical evaluation does not depend upon the person making it or whether he/she has produced any art of their own. The worth of their evaluation depends primarily upon the literary evidence used to support their judgments. At least Ricks (and many other critics who never published poetry yet value Milton, including Harold Bloom, Stanley Fish, and Barbara Lewalski) supported his evaluation of Milton's Paradise Lost with reasonable evidence and analysis.

@horationelson57 4 ай бұрын

Dear Adam, I am Australian. Have a B.A. in English Literature. Nevertheless, I'm still finding PL difficult going. Any preferred, recommended readings? Thank you and Cheers 🥂

@robertgerrity878 3 ай бұрын

Find the largest print edition you can if one exists. Or super-sized a downloaded version - so you enlarge it when reading aloud. It's meant to be recited as it's an epic. Also, some of the syntac is pretty tortured so repeat out loud readings helps straighten it. Every one prints it too small in American editions and my eyes are old. About every two pages there are stand out lines. For just a warm up read, there's Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis 'cause that's about sex. Best