"Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high," wrote John Milton in the 17th-century. Some 30 or 40 Colby College students will take his words to heart Sunday, despite temptations to ski or relax. They will spend the day in Colby's Lunder House living room reading aloud Milton's Paradise Lost. All 12 hours worth.

For the third year, students in Professor Elizabeth Sagaser's Milton seminar will tackle the epic poem "With stubborn patience as with triple steel," in the words of the poet. Sagaser characterized the non-stop reading as a "language immersion" project into the complex Miltonian version of 17th-century English.

"They won't know the true meaning of Paradise Lost until they graduate," said Stephen Collins, a college administrator and 1974 Colby graduate.