I think reading Paradise Lost would be easier if any (or preferably all) of the dialogue was in quotes.  Shorter sentences would be nice as well but I suppose that might be asking too much. Basic quotation marks would be really helpful for knowing when characters end their speeches. At some point it tends to say something along the lines of "so spake" or "h' Arch-Fiend replied" and that makes finding the start of speech a bit easier. They just are so wordy (I mean so far that's mostly all Satan) that it can be hard to figure out where they stop speaking. 

That being said  I do really like this translation or update or edition or whatever the proper term is for it. Not only are the notes pretty helpful but the words themselves are easier to process (as many of them as there may be). Just based on that factor this has been the easiest text for me to read up until this point in the semester. So thanks to whoever did the editing. I do think it's interesting how some sentences are ten-plus lines long while others are seven words long. I know a variation in sentence structure makes the reading more interesting but that is one hell of a variation. 

There was a  old man I grew up with, named Guy Waterman, who died when I was six. Guy was a professional jazz pianist , a speech writer for three presidents (including Nixon), and the author of four books. This may seem like a really weird tangent but Guy was a huge Milton fan with obsessive compulsive tendencies. So Guy memorized Paradise Lost. Not just a few lines, not just Book I, but the entirety of Paradise Lost.  In terms of sheer accomplishment I put Guy pretty high up on the list of bad-asses. I imagine the list of people who memorized Paradise Lost consists of Milton, Guy, and a few others who really need to find another source of amusement. 

But whatever, tangent aside. I find myself really liking Satan. Not because he's any pillar of society, I think it's pretty clear that he's not, but because he's pretty optimistic about this hell thing. Like Dr. MB said in class, "Satan's a glass half full kind of guy." And maybe it's because he's got it better than anyone else who fell with him, but I like his optimism. I'm not sure if the other devils/demons/fallen angels are quite such big fans of the "Better to reign in hell than to serve in Heaven" theme but that's probably just because they're stuck serving in Heaven and Hell. I think it will be interesting to see how everything pans out.