I am completely lost. I don’t know what “Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained” is talking about. Is there even a plot for this long endless poem? I bought this book because it is on sale at Audible. Time and again, such a preference for discount has led to my not liking or even understanding a book I’ve bought; yet time and again I will repeat what I’ve done before. Not that I am doing things the same way while expecting a different result. No, that’s not what I’m suffering from right now. Rather I’m suffering from the force of habit of buying things on sale. My closet is stuffed with clothes I never wear. They were obtained on sale and the only appealing thing about them is the price.
It’s a classic, loudly lauded by many, repeat read by loyal fans. The widely approved classics don’t appeal to me. This has happened again and again to me. I can’t finish one book from Charles Dickens; I dislike “1984”; I don’t understand why people are so enthusiastic about “Child Harold’s Pilgrimage” while Byron wrote so many better poems; Shakespeare’s language is too archaic and metaphors too unsubtle. Added to this list is Paradise Lost, which has beauty I can’t observe, merit I don’t recognize.
Probably I need to read the Bible, or those stories of ancient Rome and Greece, in order to have a rudimentary grasp of this. As an immigrant, I should be accustomed to things like this–not knowing how and why things happen due to lack of background information. This happens too often. Not knowing the background connotations of the words I use–I can just imagine how native speakers try their best not to laugh. Not knowing that the method of expression is as important as the right to expression, and the method often has historical context.
Haoyan Do 