Paradise Lost, Book 2: A Slow Read

‘Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven’

Join Dr. Julie Sutherland in an engaging and rewarding study of Book II of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the second standalone study in a slow read through the 17th-century writer and rebel’s great epic. In this gripping section of Milton’s cinematic retelling of the fall of Lucifer and humankind, readers experience a clamouring debate in Pandemonium (a word coined by the poet himself) as the fallen angels recalibrate in Hell. 

This immersive study is structured as a shared reading experience, where participants will read every line of the fascinating book aloud, pausing regularly for discussion. Along the way, we will explore Milton’s portrayal of Satan and the fallen angels, the epic’s opening vision of Hell, and some of the poem’s central themes, including freedom, rebellion, authority and ambition.

JOINING DETAILS:

• Four-meeting study led by Dr Julie Sutherland live on Zoom
• Tuesdays, 5 – 26 January 2027, 6.00-8.00 pm (UK time)
• £160.00 for four meetings
• We will use the Penguin Classics edition: Paradise Lost by John Milton, edited by John Leonard (ISBN-10: ‎ 9780140424393)