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Milton's Paradise Lost: Lecture on Books III-IV (Patreon)

Published:
2023-09-28 20:04:16
Imported:
2026-06
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  • Paradise Lost Lecture III.mp3

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Content

Our journey through one of the greatest works of literature ever penned continues with Milton taking us to heaven and then to Eden where we will see Adam and Eve through the eyes of Satan.

We're discussing inward light, free will, complex characterisation, hell as state of mind, love, scripture, obedience, Eden, great poetry, and much more.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 personal words of encouragement
  • 4:00 representing the unrepresentable
  • 6:00 Milton vs doctrine of trinity
  • 8:00 poet’s revolutionary religious beliefs
  • 10:00 prologue of light opening book three
  • 12:00 plague, fires, and painful blindness
  • 13:00 Milton’s alignment with Satan
  • 14:00 the poet’s wrestling with scripture
  • 16:00 creation, light & Word of God
  • 18:00 imploration for inward light
  • 20:00 sitting in on the heavenly council
  • 21:00 ‘they themselves ordained their fall’
  • 24:00 good, evil & the problem of free will
  • 26:00 on limitless potential being a restraint
  • 28:00 Son of God volunteers to sacrifice himself
  • 31:00 analysing & comparing Milton’s characters
  • 33:00 hypocrisy as evil invisible except to God
  • 36:00 psychological complexity of fallen angel
  • 38:00 on heaven and hell as states of mind
  • 41:00 Satan thinks through his fallen state
  • 43:00 ‘which way I fly is hell, myself am hell’
  • 44:00 the tormented soliloquies of Satan
  • 46:00 viewing Eden through the eyes of Satan
  • 49:00 Milton’s lines as compressed diamonds
  • 52:00 Satan beholds Adam and Eve in Eden
  • 55:00 exploration of yielding in the poem
  • 59:00 Eve’s declaration of love for Adam
  • 1:00:00 the reader’s alignment in the poem
  • 1:03:00 discovering Satan at the ear of Eve
  • 1:05:00 waiting for the fall of mankind
  • 1:08:00 what are you making of the poem?

Resources:

  • Art Appreciation: There's been a lot of love expressed for Gustave Doré's illustrations of Paradise Lost. You can appreciate his illustrations for Milton's masterpiece all in one place with Dover's superb edition.
  • Historical Context: Readers have brilliantly mentioned the diary of Samuel Pepys, which makes for a fascinating complementary contemporary record of life during the time Milton was writing. If you're interested specifically in the plague, I would recommend checking out Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year.
  • Scripture: Milton implores us to revisit the first book of the Gospel of John and the first two books of Genesis. I continue to recommend the King James Version of the Bible, which makes for an invaluable resource to have when working through the western canon.
  • Rereading: As we've now encountered Milton's representation of Christ, and we're thinking about the problem of free will, now might make a good time to build some targeted rereading in and return to 'The Grand Inquisitor' in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Our lecture is available here.
  • Documentary: Armando Iannucci did an extraordinary job in this BBC documentary from 2009 called 'Milton's Heaven and Hell.' Whether you love Milton's poetry or find his work to be a challenge, this enthusiastic documentary is very likely to inspire you.
  • Reading Assignment: Our next discussion will cover books five and six of this epic masterpiece, which takes us up to page 167 in the Oxford World's Classics edition. If you would like a refresher on the material already covered, you can return to our first lectures here and here.

Questions for You:

1) What do you make of Milton’s representation of God and the Son?

2) How do you feel about the characterisation of Adam and Eve?

3) What has been the greatest challenge with Paradise Lost? And what has been the greatest joy for you?

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Comments

Francoise

Thank you so much for these lectures Ben - Paradise Lost is the only book in the HCL curriculum (aside from a few Shakespeare plays) I haven‘t read. I attempted to read it in my early twenties but soon gave up. With the help of the HCL lectures, I‘m going to get through it this time - and so far, I‘m really enjoying myself, even if it’s slow going at times (I‘m listening to an audio version while reading, which helps a lot).

Roxane Bremen
>>118846807

Françoise, Im doing the same thing. I’m reading while I listen to the audiobook. I think it’s very helpful, especially from the phrasing.

mariah schneider

I got a little behind where I wanted to be in Paradise Lost, but I caught up to what is covered by the lecture. I'm really glad that I reread Genesis before this re-read, and that I have a good audio book version to listen to. The audio book forces me to read at the correct pacing for the poem and assists me in appreciating the language of the poem. Satan is still my favorite character, though Eve is at least interesting. Jesus and God aren't as interesting to me as characters. I hadn't realized that Milton isn't really a trinitarian, but that makes sense as I consider the recent books. That religious doctrine makes my brain hurt anyway, though I don't understand why folks fight about it. I find some of Milton's language challenging though I cheat and look at the foot notes. I have the cheap Barnes and Noble edition, but it still has vocabulary footnotes.

jack walsh

I’ve been fortunate to have read a number of chapters or “books” in this work in the past, some of them many times, but these two books were a first read for me. The salient thought I had while reading was that Book IV was so much more engaging than Book III. Now, why is that? In the first two books, Satan spoke persuasively to his minions that singing forced hallelujahs to God was intolerable and in itself justified revolting, even though the attentive reader could easily perceive the real reason for his revolt was envy and an uncontrollable ego: “Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” In Book III I found myself eventually thinking that perhaps I could see Satan’t point. Starting at line 341 it reads: … “But all ye gods, Adore him, who to compass all this dies, Adore the Son, and honor him as me.” No sooner had the’ Almighty ceased, but all The multitude of angels with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from blest voices, uttering joy, head’n rung, With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled Th’ eternal regions: lovely reverent Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground With solemn adoration down they cast their crown inwoven with amaranth and gold, … And so we see that perhaps Satan’s dislike for this heavenly atmosphere heavy with the fragrance of reverent hosannas and adorations might, indeed, be understandable. I personally, while reading of the place, made a mental note to do something nasty in the next few days to insure I wouldn’t some day be there myself. 😃 The writing remains exquisitely succinct and poetic in Book III but, for the most part, the subject matter pales in comparison with the previous two books, except for those lines that depict Satan observing it all on his journey. It is Satan who brings this story to life! He is the protagonist and lead actor. It is he whom the reader is interested in, and it is his thoughts and words that reveal more about the human condition, and there is an abundance of revelation, than anyone else. Book IV is a wonderful reading experience that competes with Books I and II. My highlights in this book almost transformed my copy into a coloring book, and I deliberated on lines with such attentiveness and delight that time flew by and I felt just reading this section of the work was as rewarding as anything I’ve yet read this year. Some favorite lines are when Satan acknowledges that pride and ambition were his downfall and that God cast goodness upon him in abundance, but that he was ever ungrateful for it all and that there was, in essence, never a burden upon him in the slightest: “Forgetful what for him I still received, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharged; what burden then?” (Lines 54-57) It’s in this Book IV that we plum the depths of Satan’s mind as he suffers revelations about himself and his actions that hurt him to the core. And who is the reader of this work who doesn’t relate to aspects of Satan’s lamentations in their own past or present actions? It is this quality, amongst many others, that make this work such a treasure. A close read reveals ever so very much about the human condition, and it penetrates deeper than other works dream of going. We get to observe the truism that wherever one goes, there one is: “… which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;” (Lines 72-75) Satan’s pain in this Book IV causes him to consider if there is a way out for him: “Oh then at last relent: is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue Th’ Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain, Under what torments inwardly I groan; while they adore me on the throne of hell, With diadem and scepter high advanced The lower still I fall, only supreme In misery; such joy ambition finds.”” So Satan reveals his penetrating pain and anguish while all the while his confession instructs the readers of what to avoid in their own behavior. Milton invokes the aid of the heavenly muse in the opening lines of this work to aid him in his endeavor to accomplish in writing what had never been accomplished before: “ …I then Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th’ Ionian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.” (Bk I, lines 12-16) I think he may have accomplished his goal. It is indeed, in my eyes, unparalleled in the history of the English language. It sits, I think, at the apex of the mountain along with Hamlet. There is so much here to mine for, so much to learn from. This book is the desert island book for me, bottomless in its profundity and literary brilliance.

jack walsh
>>118984156

I like you, Mariah, Only managed to write my post today. I agree with you that Satan is the stimulating character that rivets one's attention to the work and that Jesus and God pale in comparison...

Emma S.

I have fallen behind ( I am reading book 4 right now) and this may have been mentioned, but was Tolkien inspired or influenced by Paradise Lost? I'm seeing and feeling a number of parallels with LotR.

Wanda Raposo

I too have gotten behind in my reading. Life intervenes once again but have come back to the fold and am once again dropping down the well of this beautiful work. Its the writing that is grabbing me. The words put together so beautifully. The imagery that his words are invoking. It's like enjoying good chocolate! Closing your eyes and letting it melt on your tongue. I'm so grateful to have found this club. I'm not sure I would have been as able to enjoy this so fully without the lecture for clarification. So well done. Loving reading through the comments as well. I love reading other people's take on it. Looking forward to the 2024 series.

amy zee

I’m reading this asynchronously to the book club schedule, but excited to have these lectures and discussions available. This is my second year teaching Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for a high school language arts class, and I wanted to expand my knowledge of Shelley’s influences. I’m trying to get through this text without being too caught up in the theological details and debates, but these chapters were difficult in that regard. I grew up with the Bible stories and studied the Bible closely for a year after high school, but my perspective and questions have changed quite a bit since then. Sometime I do want to compare how Milton’s work differs from the Genesis account and how Milton possibly influenced mainstream Christian ideas in ways that many contemporary believers could be unaware. I would like to keep some momentum with reading the epic at least once through first, though! I’m looking forward to progressing with this book and hearing the lectures for the segments, which is definitely helping to keep me going! I’m also enjoying browsing everyone’s comments and reactions here. This is a great community!

Craig Mckissick

I read the first chapter reading every note, trying to slowly appreciate the poetry and found the text extremely challenging, I then read it again at full speed and found comprehension much better, making it to book 5 in one sitting following the plot much easier and getting the rhythm of the words, absolutely amazing work. And after two years of the book club I didn’t need the notes as much as one would think. It’s what I imagine reading the other great poets in the original language to be like. At this point I’ve read more translations of poems than actual English poems and I can see what they are aspiring to