One of my most inspiring teachers at university was a Miltonian, so circa 1976 I was deeply into Paradise Lost. But I never considered this:

It could be said that the monarchy is the price England has paid for the existence of Paradise Lost.

Read Philip Pullman’s explanation.

(And in an illustration of the wonders of the Internet, I discover that my teacher sold his magnificent Milton collection – which he happily let us acolytes browse through – for a pretty penny to the University of South Carolina last year. And a scandal in which he was involved.)