This unit is constructed in the belief that the poem becomes more enjoyable when it is understood, and that understanding is increased by looking at Milton's materials and, particularly, at early responses to his poem. Marvel, Dryden, Addison, Pope, Johnson, Wordsworth. One book of Paradise Lost is studied each week together with an appropriate source and critical or poetical response. The important reading is of the poem itself. Paradise Lost is not an easy read.
Every page presents a modern reader with considerable difficulties.
The text of Paradise Lost appears to be remarkably reliable. The poem constantly returns upon itself. A point that is made in one way in one book is picked up and elaborated in a second. The whole is often present in the parts. It is comparatively easy to get some sense of the precise connotations of Milton's vocabulary.