Veeky Forums I was thinking about ending the summer later this year with some epic poetry and have been meaning to get to Paradise Lost for the longest time.
I was wondering if the experience would fall flat without reading the bible, any insight would help.
Reading the bible is critical for understanding the entirety of the western canon.
>entirety
Well I mean not classicism m8, and that is truly the most important part.
Paradise Lost is probably my favourite thing written in English. Just go for it. Definitely read the bible eventually, but you can still get a ton out Milton with some standard biblical knowledge.
That's why I am so excited for it. Fucking everything I read is a translation and I really just want to enjoy some good old English language literature.
I am reading Moby Dick rn, and have got a couple other American and English pieces, as well as some Greek dramas I haven't gotten to yet lined up for the summer, but I really wanted to end it with Milton.
You sound like you don't know anything about books. Why are you planning out what you will be reading? If you were truly reading for enlightening thoughts, you would be constantly turning to and fro from Tome to Tome, tracking down your great questions. Instead you're just a dilettante teenager. Truly pathetic
This post gave me a hearty chuckle.
If bait, 10/10.
If not, then oh lad you silly sausage
You need to go fuck yourself. You probably know shit about books and brag to your friends that you read Rilke.
There is nothing wrong with a reading list.
I can't even believe this is bait because this is how most of everyone I encounter on here acts.
>reading anything published since year ~35 AD
>without having read the Bible
shiggiest diggy
Even if it's not bait it's still hilarious.
What a pretentious fool.
Can we stop with this fucking idiocy about "you need to read X to understand Y". It's absurd. No, you don't need to know any of the Bible to read Paradise Lost.
Rilke is a fine poet, though I prefer the more angelic German lyricists, who have their pens set on a higher heaven. Take Hesse, for example. In fact, don't take Hesse. He would probably go right over your blockhead.
And no, the Siddhartha you read in primary school is not the true Hesse.
You are so angry because your pathetic behavior has been singled out, named, highlighted. Where will your stacks and lists get you? Nowhere. Perhaps in tears, lonesomeness, and ostentatious conversation, but not in Knowledge.
Ah so it was bait
You are the angry one though friend.
A man set out a list of what he wished to read, and you attacked him for it.
You now mock others, while lifting yourself above them by hoisting a spear up your own arse.
You are a meme, named, shamed, defamed, estranged from any integrity you once had.
Nice samefag
You're still a pretentious inorganic teen and you know it's true
Why worry whether your critics are singular or multiple?
You are nothing but an insecure little baby, and you know it
Taking my word "singled" eh?
>A man set out a list
>A man
Nothing more than a pansy boy who can't even read the Bible. Has to ask others on the internet how to engage certain poems and judge his wealth of knowledge. A pathetic young man, the type that thinks he's better than his peers merely because he fools himself into believing that he understands old words. Go back to your coffee shops. They might think you're worth something there. Utterly pathetic
You're boring now. Yawwwwwn.
Woosh just woke up, oh look, it's your post I'm replying to. Zzzzzzzzzz.
You don't need to have read the Bible, but the more you know of the narrative sweep of the whole thing the more sense PL will make. Reading Genesis 1-3 would be a small investment of time that would pay off in insight and understanding. Isaiah 14 and 53 would also give some of the background of the angelic rebellion and the Son's volunteering for the sacrifice. Genesis 22 also gives some of the imagery that recurs in the poem.
Remember that for the sake of constructing an epic narrative Milton diverted from the Bible and dipped into other traditions (like Jewish mysticism). All of the details about the angels and their rebellion is only hinted at in the Bible.
You might do well to understand the conventions of epic poetry that Milton is very intentionally trying to ape. The wikipedia article on "epic poetry" would be enough to get you going.
Or don't do any of this the first time you read it. Just read and enjoy the narrative and the characters and the language. Coming into it without trying to understand every precedent and influence may free you to be inspired by Satan's speeches, repulsed by the incest of Sin and Death, aroused by the descriptions of nekkid Eve, and deeply moved by Adam's sacrificial choice. It really should be enjoyed the first time, though its critical reputation often serves to suffocate teh reader.
Best of luck. PL is one of the miracles of English poetry. The first time I read it I was so taken that I read the first four books in a single sitting, staying up late into the night. I was a mostly ignorant reader, but it was so captivating I couldn't put it down.
this
you don't need to be a scholar to understand poetry; understanding its religious, philosophical, political, and historical context is an academic interest secondary to the poem itself
Veeky Forums I was thinking about ending it this summer later this year with some epic knots and have been meaning to get lost in paradise for the past 6 years.
I mean I read a lot of epic poetry. So I don't have trouble grasping that. I should be good then I've read genesis and I'll do the other supplements
Best of luck to you, user.