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On Saturday morning, the 2nd Of October, a small and chilly group
met in the John Innes Society Coach House to attempt a complete reading of
John Milton's epic poem, ‘Paradise Lost’ - twelve books of about 1000 lines
each of magnificent, but difficult poetry, difficult because of its Latinate
vocabulary and syntax. As someone remarked, `You start on a sentence and
following it to the end is quite an adventure'. We did, however, improve
quite noticeably as we read on.
The
day was very loosely organized. We did not really know if anyone beyond our
small group would come, nor did we know if we could actually manage to
finish the whole poem. There was music between each book during a very short
break and some projected illustrations of the text and though we didn't
manage lunch, we kept our strength up with tea and coffee, bread, cheese and
fruit and lots of chocolate biscuits.
About thirty people came. Some stayed all day and only went home to feed the
cat, some stayed for half an hour and some popped in and out. Many wanted to
read and some of the reading was wonderful. The text came alive when we were
able to read it as a play, in character, so Book 9, where the fruit is eaten
and man's `first disobedience' is perpetrated proved to be the high spot of
the day, as, of course it is in the drama. Also, by Book 9 it was clear that
we were indeed going to finish the whole poem and with the help of a late
influx of enthusiasts after the Scouts' Jumble Sale and a glass of wine we
thoroughly enjoyed the final book. We had started very tentatively at 9.45
am and finished triumphantly about 9.30 pm. Many people helped, both from
the Reading Group and the John Innes Society but I particularly want to
thank Chris Abbott, who read so powerfully and untiringly throughout and was
so supportive of the whole enterprise. This reading was for me a long -
cherished ambition and to have succeeded and enjoyed it so much is a great
joy.
Patricia Hutchinson
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