HDM & Paradise Lost

[Blunder]

It says in anknowledgements that he used a lot of Paradise Lost as inspiration for HDM. Wondering how the fans think it is linked, i've bought it in e-book form and hopefully will begin reading it tonight. Not a big poetry fan but have been inspired to read it.
Appreciate some comments to whet my appitite

Blund

[Tristan]

I thought Paradise Lost was quite good, actually. The poetry can sometimes be a bit 17th century, but for the most part its worded very well, and flows nicely. The story is interesting, and is a good adaptation of the traditional story of the creation, rebellion of satan, and the subsequent fall of mankind. Although don't expect it to be anti-religion like His Dark Materials can be... while Milton gives Satan a great personality and loads of excellent lines, and makes him by far the most interesting character in the epic, Milton's still on the side of the Kingdom. At any rate, its a great read, enjoy!

[Will]

And I so am going to make our English teacher let us do that for English Literature.

[TheLadyofShalott]

I tried to read it. I got quite far in fact (15 pages). It would give me the worst headache.

[Enitharmon]

The poetry can sometimes be a bit 17th century

Well it would be, wouldn't it!

[Tristan]

lol

[Tod]

I thought Paradise Lost was quite good, actually. The poetry can sometimes be a bit 17th century, but for the most part its worded very well, and flows nicely. ... while Milton gives Satan a great personality and loads of excellent lines, and makes him by far the most interesting character in the epic, Milton's still on the side of the Kingdom.

I agree with Merlyn (hiya, BTW, good to see you again) to a certain extent. If you can stomach the tortured syntax, it's a helluva read (pun intended). I personally find it very difficult going, but in terms of The Canon, it's probably in the Top Five Works of Literature You Are Required To Read. It is also the main starting point for most modern psychosemiological theory, including a huge portion of gender criticism (Milton's misogyny has been hotly debated pretty much since PL was written.)

As Merlyn observes, PL's central conceit is the depiction of Satan as a phenomenal, interesting, wondrous character. By contrast, the forces of Go(o)d are, well, boring as hell, to turn a phrase. The obvious attraction of the reader to Satan is clearly deliberate on Milton's part; it's up to the reader to decide why Milton did this. So many contemporaneous and subsequent readers came away with an overall impression of desiring Satan that he was forced (by morality, by shame, by the church, etc.) to write Paradise Regained some years later in an attempt to prove that he was, in fact, a man of God.

Pullman pulls the same trick, but he doesn't feel apologetic for doing so. Here we have a depiction of the Fall and Temptation that is paradisiacal, and of the rejection of God's authority, that has engendered fanaticism on both sides of the debate: while Xn culturists decry HDM, especially conservative Catholics, its fans are equally devoted. We, the readers, have succumbed to Temptation, just as Lyra does; our Fall is subjective, psychological, and immanent, while hers is objective and transcendent. Pullman depicts this, of course, as an act of revolution, rather than a transgression, as Milton is forced to do.

jtb.

[Justine]

I tried to read it. I got quite far in fact (15 pages). It would give me the worst headache.

I know what you mean... I was on page 21 for three weeks, and then I just returned it... Maybe I'll read it later. A lot later.

[darren]

I tried to read it. I got quite far in fact (15 pages). It would give me the worst headache.

I know what you mean... I was on page 21 for three weeks, and then I just returned it... Maybe I'll read it later. A lot later.

heh, but that's the beauty of it. you can don't have to take each page at a time. you find one section really drags, or you don't understand it? well, just turn over, scim the text till something jumps out at you. when i read it a couple of years ago, i couldn't face reading from page one. i opened it at random, and just read various passages. sure, it doesn't add up as a chronological account of the church's downfall, or of the desire to rebel against the conformity of tradition and the dominence of christianity (or whatever it is you believe the poem to mean), but it allows you to seriously appreciate the power of the verse and the images it hurls at you. it's exquisite.

-- darren