Actually, call me a loser, but I really, really like Milton’s Paradise Lost. Despite the language, it’s fast-becoming one of my favorite books. Or rather, because of the language. Sure, it’s hard to get through, but some lines are just so beautiful that so much would be lost if it were written as prose. I’m especially fond of the chiasmi. The epic truly is a trascendent form of literature.

Milton has created so compelling a character in Satan. How can one not sympathize (to an extent, at least) with his jealousy and pride?Abdiel blunders in his argument to support God, while Satan is the epitome of eloquence. He’s so great that we know that humans will still eat from the Tree of Knowledge even after a warning from Raphael. I wonder how that happens; how can Satan be so convincing?