Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem by John Milton describing 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. Milton presents Satan almost sympathetically, as an ambitious and prideful being who defies his 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.
Milton begins his story 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.
Later, Lucifer enters the Garden of Eden, where he successfully tempts Eve, wife of Adam, to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
Influences include the Bible, Milton's own Puritan upbringing and religious perspective, Edmund Spenser, and the Roman poet Virgil.
On April 27, 1667 the blind, impoverished Milton sold the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
Later in life, Milton wrote Paradise Regained, charting God's returning to man 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.
Online texts
Paradise Lost
Paradise Regained
See also the documentary films :
Referenced By
1601 in literature | 1602 in literature | 1603 in literature | 1604 in literature | 1605 in literature | 1606 in literature | 1607 in literature | 1608 in literature | 1609 in literature | 1610 in literature | 1611 in literature | 1612 in literature | 1613 in literature | 1614 in literature | 1615 in literature | 1616 in literature | 1617 in literature | 1618 in literature | 1619 in literature | 1620 in literature | 1621 in literature | 1622 in literature | 1623 in literature | 1624 in literature | 1625 in literature | 1626 in literature | 1627 in literature | 1628 in literature | 1629 in literature | 1630 in literature | 1631 in literature | 1632 in literature | 1633 in literature | 1634 in literature | 1635 in literature | 1636 in literature | 1637 in literature | 1638 in literature | 1639 in literature | 1640 in literature | 1641 in literature | 1642 in literature | 1643 in literature | 1644 in literature | 1645 in literature | 1646 in literature | 1647 in literature | 1648 in literature | 1649 in literature | 1650 in literature | 1651 in literature | 1652 in literature | 1653 in literature | 1654 in literature | 1655 in literature | 1656 in literature | 1657 in literature | 1658 in literature | 1659 in literature | 1660 in literature | 1661 in literature | 1662 in literature | 1663 in literature | 1664 in literature | 1665 in literature | 1666 in literature | 1667 | 1667 in literature | 1668 in literature | 1669 in literature | 1670 in literature | 1671 in literature | 1672 in literature | 1673 in literature | 1674 in literature | 1675 in literature | 1676 in literature | 1677 in literature | 1678 in literature | 1679 in literature | 1680 in literature | 1681 in literature | 1682 in literature | 1683 in literature | 1684 in literature | 1685 in literature | 1686 in literature | 1687 in literature | 1688 in literature | 1689 in literature | 1690 in literature | 1691 in literature | 1692 in literature | 1693 in literature | 1694 in literature | 1695 in literature | 1696 in literature | 1697 in literature | 1698 in literature | 1699 in literature ...
|
