Paradise Lost and Divine Comedy

Hey Veeky Forums, just a quick question. Is it recommended to read the Divine Comedy before Milton's work? Does he reference Dante a lot? Is it necessary to be familiar with the Comedy? I have read a lot of the greeks and the bible, as well as the Aeneid. What else should I keep in mind?

Is the Aeneid any good? I just finished Letters From A Stoic and it's referenced a ton, can you recommend any of Virgil's other stuff?

There's zero direct references between the two that I'm aware of. Miltons depiction of Hell is actually extremely different than Dante's. Milton depicts it like a cave of terrorists while Dante's hell is essentially a systematized asylum.

Honestly, I did not enjoy the Aeneid as I did both the Iliad and the Odyssey, although it was good overall. Some chapters were the best things I've ever read (Aeneas descent to hell, Dido's sorrows, the retelling of Troy's fall). So it is worth it, but be prepared for a much slower book than Homer's.

I'd just read Paradise Lost blind, it'd take you 20 years to really prepare for i, nobody who isnt a biblical scholar with a medieval classical education is going to get half of the allusions; if you look at an annotated ediion there are like 5 allusions on every line that you've* never even heard of

*you being those of us who know Homer and Vergil, Plato and the Tragedians and jus have a basic, non-scholararly grasp of the classics

Some critic said modern readers should read it is a mad scifi, not bad advice

Annotators are full of shit and just pump texts with nonsensical garbage in order to sell new editions of books that have been in public domain forever.

imagine being this retarded

Oh no I'm sure each of those scribbles are profound insights that improve your experience of the text itself

Go on then, provide me with one annotation that you would have considered valuable.

Milton knew 16 languages of something and uses alludes to hem all heavily, when you really get into it its definitely intellectually impressive but you kinda think...was he great poet or just a high IQ nerd with a good memory making a giant fucking collage

Don't be such an extremist desu, some notes in Penguin classics etc are a bit over the top but to deny the existence of allusion is just silly.

I don't deny it, I just find it terribly uninteresting. Its what mediocre scholars mistake for depth. Probably because its the only type of critical reading that comes close to """objective""" but serves extremely little purpose otherwise emotionally or spiritually

Allusion (at least used well, eg Milton or Joyce et al) is central to the thinking, its a way to create image and idea. If you don't like it you dont have to, but Milton clearly did, so you can't study him while denying it.

This

Its not necessary.

Its more important to read the Iliad / Odyssey and the bible.

I feel like if you don't have some grasp of the allusions then you aren't even understanding the text on the surface level, let alone any deeper.

THe problem with allusion is you have to be well-read and most students now, even the best ones, aren't

Nope he does not reference Dante, just read it and it's fucking great albeit a little longer than needed

Name a single example of this from the entire history of literature

yo Jesus charging in a chariot infused with all of the Fathers might against the monstrous army led by satan doesnt take any education to enjoy.

how about Paradise Lost/The Book of Genesis

A direct adaptation isn't a God damn allusion. Allusions are by definition subtextual

its full of allusion as well