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[felis_ultharus]

I finished Paradise Lost again. I swear, someday I'm going to write Paradise Lost in 15 minutes and save everyone a lot of time

Then it was on to Milton's "Lycidas." The helpful footnoter to my edition, trying to work out what each of the Pastoral elements is allegorical for, suggests that the wild satyrs might symbolize "Cambridge undergraduates."

I swear I'm cracking up. Whenever I've spent a few hours reading iambic pentameter, I get that infamous line going through my head,

Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?
No wonder she's got keel marks on her lips.

Next up is The Rape of the Lock by Pope. I haven't read it since high school.

Been reading up on Pope's life, and realized it was actually a lot worse than I'd know. I knew things were bad for Catholics, but I didn't realize he'd had to go to grammar school in secret, and that he was denied a chance to go to university -- or that he was the first writer to make a living writing in English without a day job or court patronage.

He had to be, because no one would support a Catholic or give one a decent job.

I also didn't realize that nasty spine disease he'd had stunted his growth at 4'6", and killed him at the young age of 56.

No wonder he developed such a brilliant sense of humour. It was probably a survival mechanism.

Comments

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

I swear, someday I'm going to write Paradise Lost in 15 minutes and save everyone a lot of time

Beaten.

http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/milton.lost.shtml

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Bah, that version's not very fun. I was thinking more like Prisoner of Azkaban in 15 minutes (http://community.livejournal.com/m15m/2237.html).

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

That was a thing of beauty. I will happily read a 15-minute version of Paradise Lost, especially if it's as randomly slashy as Prizoner of Azkaban was... XD

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I can do slashy. How about,

Belial: Well, God won, so maybe if we're good, he'll turn down the heat. So I say we drop our pants and bend over -- metaphoricaly speaking of course -- and let God have his way with us over and over and over again...
Satan: That's it Belial -- when we build Sodom, you're in charge of it.

It works, because Belial really is in charge of Sodom in Milton ^_^