David Hopkins is Emeritus Professor of English Literature and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, UK. A specialist on English poetry and literary criticism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, he has written two books on John Dryden – John Dryden (1986) and Writers and their Work: John Dryden (2004). His latest work, Conversing with Antiquity: English Poets and the Classics, from Shakespeare to Pope (2010), reflects his interest in the enduring influence on English poetry of the literature and culture of classical antiquity. Professor Hopkins has also edited numerous volumes, including (with Paul Hammond) an annotated edition of Dryden’s complete poems.

• Preface vii 1 Paradise Lost : Poem or “Problem”? 12 God, Satan, and Adam 233 Eden 434 The Fall 63Further Reading 85Index to lines and passages from Paradise Lost 91Index to main text and notes 93

"Written in lucid, unpretentious prose, (Reading Paradise Lost) has ... the character of a first-rate lecture. It opens an uncluttered path into 'the distinctive imagined world' of Paradise Lost and is a guide to understanding it as a long narrative poem. There is a place for such a book in Milton studies, specifically for students coming to the poem for the first time, before they move on to the large handbooks. The championing of the early critics gives the book a distinctive edge and the original and persuasive ideas of the first chapter will be of particular interest to Milton scholars." (Milton Quarterly, May 2014) "In true Miltonic style the content skilfully covers the well-known whilst encouraging the brave to question, deconstruct and think again."  (The Use of English, 65.1 Autumn 2013) "Any library supporting the teaching of English literature to freshmen and sophomores should acquire it. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general readers." (Choice, 1 August 2013)