 The want* of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for...  The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. - Page 173by Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy - 1820Full view - About this book
 | John Sitter - Literary Criticism - 2001 - 322 pages
...such as Lycidas, the Masque, and Paradise Lost ("The want of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again ... Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure").46 Striking at Milton's role as the great national... | |
 | Greg Clingham - Literary Criticism - 2002 - 238 pages
...apparently decisive observation seems to come: "The want of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires...is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure" (para. 252). Such criticism sounds final, but it is much modified when taken in context, representing... | |
 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Literary Collections - 2002 - 296 pages
...(gratification^P.) 84-6. Colourful episodes from Paradise Lost. 87. Johnson actually wrote of Paradise Lost, 'None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure': Lives of the English Poets, ed. George Birkbeck Hill (3 vols.; Oxford, 1905), i. 183. STC quotes Johnson... | |
 | John Milton - English literature - 2003 - 1012 pages
...and classical models; but he also notes the strain that the epic imposes upon the reader: 'Parodiee Lost is one of the books which the reader admires...up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.' Developing an observation of Addison 's about Milton's style, 'our language sunk under him' (Spectalor... | |
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