Honestly I cannot wait for our next class so we can discuss because I am quite lost. I am not one to say to myself "Religion?! I have opinions about that!!" because I am not one of a religious background and nor do I have much knowledge of religion which can also be a bummer. However, for the first time I think it is not the poetry that is throwing me off, but more so Milton's style which is also difficult for me to comment on because I do not have a firm grasp on that either. But that is the beauty of this class!!
What I did find interesting was the very beginning talking about Adam and Eve and the forbidden tree when they took the fruit and ate it even though that was the one thing that they were not supposed to do.
What I did understand here was the basic temptation of humanity and how that can bring out the worst in humans whether we like it or not, and sometimes the consequences follow us for however amount of time afterwards. Unfortunately this just happened to be "Man's first disobedience" so that's a real bummer.
The footnotes were somewhat helpful, however what was difficult was when there was something I personally needed a footnote explanation and there was none, I had to go off of context or Google!
The main theme I am gathering from Paradise Lost is that once we do lose ourselves and our good nature there is an endless misery among mankind because we tend (as imperfect humans) to give into the Serpent (Satan) and that downfall just continues to snowball and add upon itself. But we can thank Satan for that.
Hopefully in class today I can get more guidance, and maybe Paradise and I can find a way out!
Yeah, I was really excited to get to class as well because "Paradise Lost" was making my head hurt. My friend was with me when I was reading it and, because I could, I read the first sentence out loud to her. She looked at me like I had four heads. Milton is incredibly hard to follow. I had a student teacher in high school that tried to teach us the beginning of "Paradise Lost". I remember going over the beginning in class a bit, but then I have no memory of it after that. I am thinking that I either blocked it out because it was traumatic or she just decided that it wasn't worth trying to teach it when no one, including her I think, understood it. I am still trying to figure that out, but I don't think I will be teaching is anytime soon!
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone has the same idea that this piece of work is hard to follow. I think that the discussion in class really helped with getting through it the second time. I found it easy to find a quiet place and really take your time with it. line by line. I think that it is hard to follow because of the language. the references and names are uncommon to mostly everyone in class that have little to no experience in religion. i suggest to take it slow.
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ReplyDeleteI really understand how you feel about being lost in this book! I agree, I sometimes no not even really understand the content and have to go back and read it again because I get so lost in the poetry of the language. It helps if you set a good amount of time aside and go through it slowly with notes. I think this is an important book to be familiar with because many western author's reference it.
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