Euan’s Reviews > Paradise Lost: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism > Status Update

"...the rest, far greater part/
Will deem in outward rites and specious forms/
Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire/
Bestuck with sland'rous darts, and works of faith/
Rarely be found."

Well, good thing Michael/Milton warned us of that, and we avoided false faith and "Christians" in name only...

[Of Earth] "Terrestrial heav'n, danced round by other heav'n/ ... With what delight I could have walked thee round/ If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange/ of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains/ Now land, now sea, and shores with forest crowned/ Rocks, dens, and caves; but I in none of these/ Find place or refuge; and the more I see/ Pleasures about me, so much the more I feel/ Torment within me..."

Were this a story, you would have the rebelling side of the fallen angels at least be able to put up a fight, if not appear close to winning before ultimately losing. But as it is, where the lowest ranks of faithful angels are able beat Satan's closest lieutenants (because Heaven's side cannot even be seen to struggle, I assume), it feels so one-sided as to be barely worth calling a "war."

"Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess /
Free, and to none accountable, preferring /
Hard liberty before the easy yoke /
Of servile pomp."

I mean, you can't say the devils sound unreasonable.

*guy who only reads fantasy voice* "Hmm... Getting a lot of Silmarillion vibes from this..."

Decided I wanted to finally read this. Much shorter than the page count says- I plan on just reading the poem, not Bible excerpts and critical essays about the poem...