Paradise Lost

please help me

You're good. Just read it. It's pretty self explanatory.

Enjoy it. It is great.

Burton
Browne
John Donne
Ben Jonson
Aemilia Lanyer
Robert Herrick
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell

>>9070759
>>9070802
Well, conflicting opinions but thank you.

>>9070454
if you want to read it, just go for it without worring. if you like the book, which you will probably will, you can re-read later after becoming more familiar with references and such, after all paradise lost is a book that deserves many re-reads, and each time you will have the chance to enjoy more and more

i did this with divine comedy. read it without any background of philosophy and theology. missed all the references, didn't even know who virgil was back then. enjoyed it A LOT nevertheless. now reading philosophy and the bible, after reaching aquinas will re-read the divine comedy. currently on aristotle and just by reading the summary of divine comedy I already got a lot of references I didn't get before.

TL;DR
just go for it and enjoy the ride. re-read it after few years

>>9070454
If you have an 8th grade education in history and science, strong reading skills, and have read Genesis + have a broad familiarity with the rest of the Bible you'll be good.

There's a lot of references to antiquity, whether they be historical or legendary, but you can get by without catching them. Knowing French is helpful for comprehension but not necessary.

>>9070454
Milton was said to have read everything. So everything.