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56 points drdee | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.463s | source
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pge ◴[] No.42194245[source]
In case anyone is interested, the full text of Paradise Lost with helpful annotations is available online at Dartmouth:

https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/pl/intro/text...

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1. kibwen ◴[] No.42197950[source]
I know that people spend a lot of time fixating on how to write a good opening line for their books ("It was a dark and stormy night", etc.), but Paradise Lost has I think the most beautiful closing passage of any book (spoilers for The Bible):

They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat,

Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate

With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes:

Som natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon;

The World was all before them, where to choose

Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide:

They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,

Through Eden took thir solitarie way.

replies(1): >>42200839 #
2. aidenn0 ◴[] No.42200839[source]
A Tale of Two Cities also has a beautiful (and famous) closing passage.