Re: Paradise Lost With Illustrations Pdf Download
Melva Simons
William Blake illustrated Paradise Lost more often than any other work by John Milton, and illustrated Milton's work more often than that of any other writer. The illustrations demonstrate his critical engagement with the text, specifically his efforts to redeem the "errors" he perceived in his predecessor's work.
We recently digitized Milton's Paradise Lost with Illustrations by Gustave Doré. This 1898 edition of John Milton's epic 17th century poem is one of several in our collection illustrated by legendary French artist, painter, printmaker, and engraver, Gustave Doré. Doré illustrated hundreds of works of literature, including Don Quixote de la Mancha, Dante's Inferno, and a series of particularly haunting illustrations for Poe's The Raven. Aside from various editions of Paradise Lost, we also have myriad other books illustrated by Doré, including various editions of La Divina Commedia and The Fables of La Fontaine, which was previously digitized.
Gustave Doré's Romantic style of illustration, supremely imaginative and richly detailed, was ideally suited to literary subjects. His wood-engraved illustrations for John Milton's monumental epic poem Paradise Lost, recounting mankind's fall from the grace of God through the work of Satan, were among his finest and most dramatic works. This volume presents superb reproductions of all 50 plates drawn by Doré and engraved in his studios for the original edition of Paradise Lost.
Artists and art lovers will find in these pages supreme examples of the illustrator's art. Among the events depicted: the expulsion of Satan from heaven, Adam and Eve in Paradise, the nine-day fall of Lucifer's legions to Hell, the Creation, the temptation of Eve, the Flood, Moses holding up the Ten Commandments, and the fearsome creatures Milton referred to as "Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire."
The dreamlike, otherworldly quality Doré often brought to his work seems especially appropriate for Paradise Lost with its lofty spirit and epic events. Indeed, Doré's grand conception seems to realize perfectly Milton's own poetic version. Appropriate quotes from the text of Paradise Lost are printed alongside each illustration. A plot summary of the entire poem is also included.
Dover (1992) unabridged republication of all 50 plates from Milton's Paradise Lost, originally published by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, London, ca. 1866.
As with Dore's illustrations for other classic works such as Don Quixote, the Bible and and Dante's Divine Comedy, his illustrations for Paradise Lost are noted for their powerful imagery and their ability to capture and bring to life the essence of the text.
Milton's epic poem tells the story of Lucifer's rebellion against God and his expulsion from heaven, which leads to the temptation and fall of man. Dore's vivid images describe the titanic struggle between the good and evil angels, the lost innocence of Adam and Eve, and the subsquent redemption of mankind. This story and Dore's illustrations, may be seen as a companion to his illustrations of the Bible as well as Dante's inferno.