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Welcome to the world of one man's insanity and his accurate observations, also known as cynicism, of a world full of imbeciles and annoying people.

03 April, 2010

John Milton's Paradise Lost

For those who haven't heard of it; Paradise Lost is a poem that was first published in 1667 in the space of ten books. It contains two story arcs; that of Satan and some of his underlings debating how they should fight back against God and the Angels, and the one about Adam and Eve is basically the story of Adam and Eve in the bible, but giving them both some personality.

BBC Radio 7 (for those wondering why I've mentioned two BBC Radio stations recently, it's because I get very bored and listen to things on BBC iPlayer, the catch-up web player for all things BBC (only available if you live in Britain)) is currently doing a radio adation of Paradise Lost, which will apparently run for 40-something episodes. Seeing as each episode is only 15 minutes long, I can't help feel that they're dragging it out a lot since it could be over in 20-something episodes if they made each one 30 minutes like any other programme for adults.
The first story arc, from what I've heard so far (only 5 episodes have been broadcast thus far), is incredibly good. It makes it very easy to feel sympathetic with Satan (I prefer the name Lucifer, personally, but seeing how they're called Satan in Paradise Lost, I shall refer to them as such) and his underlings. I would say it's worth reading/listening to the first arc, especially if you have any taste in fiction.
As for the second arc, I obviously haven't listened to it yet since there's only 5 episodes at the moment, but from what I read on Wikipedia it's not worth any attention since it's just the story of Adam and Eve from the bible with added personalities and one sex scene.

Put simply, I recommend reading the poem if you get the chance. By that, I obviously mean if you get the chance where you can do so for free, ie. in a library.

Lord J