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Arbaaz khan's avatar

This is a fantastic guide. I almost expected there to be a “read the Bible first” step because to my knowledge, paradise lost is a retelling of the bible itself. Which leads me to my question: do i need to have read the bible to pick up on certain nods to the scripture or references or do i just need to know the basics of the story itself which i am sure everyone is already?

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C.D. Landreth's avatar

Reading Genesis, the Gospels, and Revelation could help. But if you're generally familiar with those stories, it's not absolutely necessary to extract a ton of meaning from Paradise Lost.

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Arbaaz khan's avatar

Ah cool. I have another question though: in these epic poems like the illiad, paradise lost and such, i have no idea what is supposed to rhyme together and what is not. Like how are you supposed to read this stuff? To me it sounds like a jumble of words together with no actual coherent rhyming. I wanna appreciate the poetic nature of the text but i cannot do that unfortunately. Any tips on that? Also i am having the same issue with idylls of the king as well

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Jared Langford's avatar

This is a book I absolutely started as a way to check a box on my “I should read this because it’s a classic” list. But almost immediately I was drawn in authenticity and loved it. My was out on every page underlining and noting

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C.D. Landreth's avatar

Yes! I began reading it for the same reason, but was captivated by it very quickly as well. I highlighted so many passages!

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