The Connell Guide to John Milton's Paradise Lost

by Caroline Moore, Jolyon Connell (Editor)

All you need to know about John Milton's Paradise Lost is in this advanced guide to the text. Connell Guides are advanced guide books that offer sophisticated analysis and broad critical perspectives for higher-level GCSE and A Level English Literature students. Written by leading academics, Connell Guides are clear, concise and beautifully designed to help students understand, and enjoy, great works of literature. They are perfect for coursework, revision and exam preparation. Connell Guides are also great reads themselves scholarly, yet approachable and entertaining.

Milton's Paradise Lost has long been acknowledged as one of the greatest literary works in the English language. Yet while many readers have been carried away by Milton's sublimity, others have been daunted by his grandeur, scope and learning. In this brilliantly concise and scholarly book, Caroline Moore shows what makes Milton's verse so extraordinarily powerful and why many critics have misunderstood him. Paradise Lost, Moore argues, is the most profound study ever undertaken of the human act of choice. No other English poet - not even Shakespeare - has ever stared so long and hard into the abyss "between the acting of a dreadful thing / And the first motion"; no other poet has shown quite so vividly the dark byways and infinite strangeness of the human heart.

Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Grebbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published 2012.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sign to a good revision guide is when it is passed around a collection of confused students. Milton’s Paradise Lost is no walk in the park to read, as even though it is essentially the creation story from the Bible, the form of the Epic Poem and the contextual setting of the 17th Century create a difficult to digest piece of literature. Even for University students!

I honestly don’t think I would have made it through Milton’s epic without this book! The summary of each book within the poem is possibly one of the most useful things I have ever experienced, as it not just a basic overview of the end goal of the section but a blow by blow account of what is happening. For me this was essential, because Milton’s structure made it so hard to follow even when I knew how it would end.

I have recommended these guides to everyone on my English course who have crossed my path! It asks and answers the key questions without being patronising, and addresses the themes of the poem whilst still allowing the reader to make their own connections! I feel like I’ll probably end up with a whole collection of these little guides throughout my English course and I can’t wait to study the poem in detail after reading this!
Thank you Connell Guides for sending me this copy for review, you’ve really helped! Share to save an English Students life!!