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John Milton's
amazing work, first published in 1667, is unarguably the greatest Christian
poem in English. Its theme is ‘man's first disobedience’ and consequent
expulsion from Paradise or, in more contemporary language, the birth of
consciousness in humans, with its attendant moral choices. Angels, prophets,
the gods and goddesses of myth and legend people its dramas and in the
fearful wars in heaven, it is undoubtedly Satan, the fallen angel, who is
Milton's hero, albeit unconsciously. But Milton is also a great poet of
nature and the luxuriant exoticism of Paradise is tempered by his gentle
observation of animals and flowers. He may have originally conceived it as a
play, for there is much dramatic dialogue and soliloquy and, of course, he
could easily have chosen to write it in Latin! As it is, the language is
grandiloquent and highly - wrought, but always fascinating and after all the
high drama the final expulsion is deeply moving and uplifting. |
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So,
on 7th October, in the John Innes Society Coach House in Melrose
Road, with the kind help and permission of the Society we read aloud the
whole of 'Paradise Lost'. There are twelve books, so we had a very brief
break between each book with some music and pictures. We started to read at
9.30
am and finished some ten hours later.
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