I'll say this, the story isn't bad, per se. 

I appreciate the work for what it was at its time. However, for this work of "poetry", the rhyme scheme and pacing are far too difficult to keep up with throughout the whole book. It might be easier to just read it like any other book. The writing, otherwise is pretty nice. 

Character-wise, it doesn't seem like there is any development. Maybe that's because this is part of a three-part story, but the protagonist just doesn't move anywhere. I think that's my problem with the ending too, it doesn't end on a decent note; I'm just kind of left hanging a bit. 

A big pro for this version though is the extensive footnotes and synopsis at the beginning of each canto. If you get confused by the references or writing (which, odds are you will) these come in clutch to help you out!