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Poetry

Paradise Lost, work for the morning

Author: John Milton Year: 1667 Length: 489 characters Difficulty: demanding Public domain

Long lines of blank verse with heavy punctuation, useful for learning to keep pace across line endings.

To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east With first approach of light, we must be risen, And at our pleasant labour, to reform Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green, Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown, That mock our scant manuring, and require More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth: Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums, That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth, Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease; Mean while, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.

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About this text

This speech comes from the fourth book of Paradise Lost, in which the garden is described in most detail. Milton used blank verse, unrhymed iambic lines, and defended that choice in a note added to the poem. He wrote much of the work after 1660, when he had lost his public position. The full text is on Project Gutenberg.

About this text

This speech comes from the fourth book of Paradise Lost, in which the garden is described in most detail. Milton used blank verse, unrhymed iambic lines, and defended that choice in a note added to the poem. He wrote much of the work after 1660, when he had lost his public position. The full text is on Project Gutenberg.

What it trains

Long lines of blank verse with heavy punctuation, useful for learning to keep pace across line endings.

Public domain

Copyright has expired or never applied, so anyone can copy the text and use it further.

Source: domena publiczna, Project Gutenberg

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