Paradise Lost

   

For the UK Goth metal band, see Paradise Lost (band).

Paradise Lost (published 1667) is an epic poem, originally in 10 books, later revised in 12, of blank verse by the 17th century English poet John Milton. It narrates the Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

The protagonist of this Protestant epic, is the fallen angel, Satan. Today it would appear that Milton presents Satan sympathetically, as an ambitious and prideful being who defies his tyrannical creator, omnipotent God, and wages war on Heaven, only to be defeated and cast down. Some critics regard the character of Satan as a Byronic hero.

The story is innovative in that it attempts to rectify the Christian and the Pagan; like Shakespeare, Milton found Christian mythology lacking. The inclusion of a largely pagan Satan allows the vitality of Pagan imagery and maintains the poem's piety.

Many tough theological issues are grappled with, including fate, predestination, and the Trinity. Milton did not strictly believe in the Trinity. He presents a Father who is good but angry and sarcastic, and a Son who is genuinely giving and optimistic.

Story

Milton's story contains two story arcs: that of Satan and that of Adam and Eve. Satan's story is an homage to the old epics of warfare. It begins in media res, after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and cast down by God into Hell. In Pandæmonium, Lucifer must employ his rhetorical ability to organize his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers himself to poison the newly-created Earth. He releases Sin and Death into the world, and braves the dangers of the Abyss in a manner reminiscient of Odysseus or Aeneas.

The other story is a fundamentally different, new kind of epic: a domestic one. Adam and Eve are presented for the first time in Christian literature as having a functional relationship while still without sin. They have arguments, passions and personalities, as well as sexual intercourse. Satan successfully tempts Eve, who in turn convinces Adam. They again have sex, but in a way which implies rape. After realizing their crime, they fight, but make amends thanks to Eve's humility. They are then cast out of Eden, but the coming of Messiah is foreshadowed, and an angel adds that one may find "A paradise within thee, happier farr."

Context

Influences include the Bible, Milton's own Puritan upbringing and religious perspective, Edmund Spenser, and the Roman poet Virgil.

Milton wrote the entire work after he lost his sight with the help of secretaries and friends, notably Andrew Marvell. On April 27, 1667 the blind, impoverished Milton sold the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.

Later in life, Milton wrote Paradise Regained, charting the temptation of Christ by Satan, and the return of the possibility of paradise. This sequel has never had a reputation equal to the earlier poem. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake commented:

The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.

In the late 1970s, the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki wrote an opera based on Paradise Lost.

The epic was one of the inspirations for Philip Pullman's trilogy of novels His Dark Materials.

Online texts

Paradise Lost

Paradise Regained

External links

 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about Paradise Lost.

See also


it:Paradiso perduto

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