Thursday 22 April 2010

Of Man's First Disobedience and the Fruit of that Forbidden Tree...

Currently re-reading Milton's Paradise Lost, in preperation for the coming term. I forgot how mindblowing some of the description is. So disorientating, and so epic.
This section - Satan persuades Sin to open the doors of hell, in order for him to corrupt mankind.

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound
Th’ infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She opened, but to shut
Excelled her power; the gates wide open stood
Amazing. I'm not going to deny that much of the poem is rather dull. It can be difficult to get through. But Milton's Satan, and the frequent bouts of frankly amazing description completely make up for it. This is one to re-read. His prose works . . . maybe not so much. The ridiculous names, like Areopagitica, Tetrachordon and Colasterion sound like Mars Volta song titles . . . if only they were as interesting.
-Farewell for now.
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THIS IS NOT AN EXIT

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