Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained

By: John Milton

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Paradise Lost, along with its companion piece, Paradise Regained, remain the most successful attempts at Greco-Roman style epic poetry in the English language. Remarkably enough, they were written near the end of John Milton's amazing life, a bold testimonial to his mental powers in old age. And, since he had gone completely blind in 1652, 15 years prior to Paradise Lost, he dictated it and all his other works to his daughter.

The main work represented in this recording, Paradise Lost, is divided into roughly three sections. In the first section, covering books one through four, we are shown how Satan manages to regroup his followers after their defeat in Heaven, how they decide to renew the struggle with God, how Satan escapes from Hell and makes his way to earth to do mischief, and how God discovers Satan's new plot and decides to allow it to unfold.

The next section, books five through eight, take place on earth as we are introduced to Adam and Eve, their discourses with God's angels, and a retelling of the battle between God and Satan as rendered by the angel Raphael.

In the last section, books nine through 12, Eve is seduced by a disguised Satan and eats the forbidden fruit. Adam, distressed at the event, yet unwilling to be parted from Eve, decides to eat the fruit and share her fate. God sends His Son to earth to render punishment, but only after the Son pleads successfully on their behalf for mercy. He descends and tells Adam that they can no longer remain in Eden, but then takes him to a place and shows him a vision of mankind's future.

Paradise Regained follows the Gospel of Luke in presenting the story of Satan's temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In striking contrast to Adam and Eve, Satan is utterly foiled in his attempt to corrupt the Son of God.

Public Domain (P)2008 Audio Connoisseur

Time to finally tackle Milton!

You know you'll never read this heady classic, so why not let Charlton Griffin bring it to life as you listen. You might imagine, as you listen, the work as blind Milton dictated it to his daughter.

Except for the lack of thoroughness a great version of Milton’s work.

I would give the narrator a 4 but gave the performance only a 3 because of the laziness of the persons responsible for putting the book together. The title is Paradise Lost and Paradise regained, however there is no mention of a biography of Milton being included. In fact the entire first chapter, all 2 hours is a biography. Then the 2 books are grouped together as chapters 2 through 17. No indication when either book starts or ends even though they are separated. Chapter 1 is the biography, should have been labeled as such. Chapters 2 through 13 are books 1 through 12 of Paradise Lost, should have been labeled as such. Paradise Regained starts at chapter 14 and ends at chapter 17, books 1 through 4 respectively. The books are verbally identified but it would have been so easy to mark the 3 parts with Milton Biography, Paradise Lost books 1-12 and Paradise Regained, books 1-4.

Read at least once in your lifetime.

Two great books, wonderfully narrated. beautifully imagined. Take your time and don't rush. Enjoy the marvelous pictures and vocabulary.

A classic

This is a fairly good reading of a true classic. Worth the time for those looking to jump in to renaissance literature.

Beware the false British accent

Griffin is in many ways just as extraordinary as his fans say: he captures nuance almost as well as Timothy West, and for the most part his accent is excellent.

If, however, like me, you know the proper British pronunciation of words like "Derby," "issue," and "Michaelmas," you may well, like me, find Griffin's ignorance of such things incredibly distracting. I would still recommend this audiobook very highly, but I do wish I had thought to verify the authenticity of the reading first.

worth every penny

don't think twice about the price just buy it and be blown away, just perfection.

Divine

There is no need for me to rate or review Milton's epic because *Paradise Lost* is hands down the best work of literature that was ever written. Charlton Griffin was able to convey the divine nature of the epic, to translate the beauty, and transform it. I was afraid that his dramatization might take away from the text because it's one of those whose enchantment lies in its written and "static" nature the magic lies in the words and needs no dramatization. That being said, Griffin was phenomenal, he maintains the magic, he doesn't debase it with profane human emotions and is able to preserve its almost sacred nature. I wouldn't recommend listening to it if you haven't read the epic before hand because a) it might be confusing and overwhelming and b) it's a different experience which will taint and color your experience reading it. In order to truly appreciate you need to read all 12 books and then listen to Griffin's stunning rendition.

Fantastic Reading!

I tried to read PL in college—even had a course on it—and I just couldn’t get into it. I realize now that it was because I couldn’t imagine a good narrative voice to read it in. This narrator, Charlton Griffin, has done the world a wonderful service with his beautiful, thought-full voicing of this classic meditation on what was going on behind the scenes of Genesis 1-3. I’m grateful to him for his reading. Although the language of Milton will be inaccessible to those unfamiliar with language like Shakespearean English, Griffin “performs” Paradise Lost like a play, so that if you can follow a performance of Shakespeare, you will be able to follow PL, even if you have no prior familiarity with it. In any event, Griffin is such a fantastic reader that I am going to actively seek out and buy books that he has read due to his tremendous skill as a reader.

For Serious Listening!

What made the experience of listening to Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained the most enjoyable?

It will surprise nobody if I mention that Paradise Lost has some challenging language. Frankly, I couldn't follow the narration. I later read Paradise Lost in text form, and enjoyed it. I would suggest using this audiobook to listen to while following the text at the same time. Obviously, this means sitting down and devoting time to it, not listening while running, driving, or doing the laundry.

What does Charlton Griffin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The performance here is superb -- exactly what one would hope for, for an epic poem of the fallen angels and the corruption of Adam and Eve. Also, there is a two-hour commentary on John Milton and his life, which I found quite rewarding.

Great story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book is good at looking into where some of our misunderstandings of the Bible come from

Who was your favorite character and why?

Adam and Eve you see how it might have looked in the beginning

Have you listened to any of Charlton Griffin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first of his works I have heard