Paradise Lost

John Milton was among the most ambitious of poets, and there was never any doubt that he would write an epic poem. He spent a long time considering the subject, and at one time it seemed likely...

The epic is centered on a hero who determines or is majorly involved in shaping the destiny of a group of people or a community. Epic conventions are basically characteristics of such narratives...

Paradise Lost is certainly an epic. An epic is a grand story involving heroes and legendary figures. These stories tend to cover mythical or historical events. Paradise Lost is an epic...

When meaning is unclear, it is important to analyze a quotation in context with the rest of the text [I've inserted the whole contextual quote above]. You must ask questions like: Who is speaking?...

The epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton tells of the casting out of paradise of Satan and other rebellious angels. Satan and his demons devise a plan to retaliate against God by corrupting his...

The best word to describe Milton's style in Paradise Lost is “grand.” Paradise Lost is epic poetry, and Milton elevates his style to match the seriousness and grandeur of his subject matter. Think,...

This opening line explains that Paradise Lost will focus on the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. "Man's first disobedience" was eating the fruit (described as an apple in...

Milton also tells us the subject of his poem is the original sin committed by Adam and Eve, the eating of the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Because of this sin, mankind must now suffer death...

John Milton's ten-thousand-line epic poem in blank verse, Paradise Lost, was first published in 1667 in an edition of ten books. The poem explores Adam and Eve's temptation by Satan, and their...

When John Milton describes hell in book 1 of Paradise Lost, he seems to be portraying a terrifying yet paradoxical place. At first, he tells us hell is a world where torment and affliction know no...

God cast Satan out of heaven because Satan, through pride, lust, and greed, wanted to usurp God’s heavenly throne. Satan wanted to be as God at the very least, and also above God. He was full of...

Milton's Paradise Lost is known for its rich use of literary devices. It is famous, for example, for its lush imagery. Imagery is describing using the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and...

The lines in your question are especially significant in John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost (first published in 1667) because they belong in a passage that introduces firsthand the epic’s villain,...

Milton engages the reader immediately with his purpose, just as Homer and Virgil do, as well as the "modern" Italian poets Ariosto and Tasso. In epic convention there is an announcement at the...

Milton is essentially penning an epic poem, a long narrative poem that details events which are important in the poet's culture and tells of big adventures and high drama. In ancient Greek epic...

Beelzebub's name means "lord of the flies," and this second-in-command to the devil is the most competent of the swarm of vicious demons that surround Satan in hell. He is a loyal sycophant who is...

Satan is made—superficially—attractive by Milton in a number of ways. He feels that he's been wronged by God, unfairly cast down from Heaven for daring to proclaim his independence and autonomy....

Satan's pride is the ultimate source of all his foolish actions in Paradise Lost. From a Christian standpoint the most blatant example of Satan's pride is his turning away from God. Though still...

Strictly speaking, an epic is a long narrative poem on a great and serious subject. It is written in an elevated style, and has at its centre a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions the...

Beelzebub is Satan's right-hand man, having been the first to side with Satan against God the Father during the war of heaven which takes place before the beginning of the story. Both of them are...

The so-called “grand style” of John Milton’s epic poem is the lofty, elevated, or non-colloquial phrasing he uses to add to the dignity of the poem and imply the importance of its subject matter....

Lines 1-26 of Book I of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost are particularly important because they announce many of the most important themes of the poem as a whole. They also exhibit some of...

Milton's avowed aim in Paradise Lost is to justify the ways of God to man. His emphasis, therefore, is somewhat different from that of Genesis. Milton is a humanist, albeit a Christian one, so his...

Book I of John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost describes Satan as utterly dismayed to be thrown form the realm of light to a place of dark and suffering [85]. Satan has been left his spirit and...

The standard definition of an epic, or heroic poem, is that it is a ''noble story told in noble verse'' (Hutson and McCoy, Epics of the Western World, p. 7), a continuous narrative concerning a...

As written in the first five lines of Paradise Lost, poet John Milton's subject is the Fall of Man and then Man’s redemption through Jesus Christ. Milton immediately informs the reader that the...

Satan and Beelzebub are alike in both being evil and opposed to God. They both want to continue the fight against him, and both are underhanded and fiendish. A main difference, however, is that...

In "Book I" of Paradise Lost Milton gives us some very memorable images of hell; many of them allude to the Bible, and others from his own mind. Here are some of them: "bottomless perdition" (I....

The purpose of Book 1 was to outline the chain of events that led not only to the fall of man but also that of Satan. Satan’s pride made the angel to lead a rebellion against God. Satan was jealous...

Satan disguises himself as a cormorant, a type of bird. He sits on the Tree of Life and listens in to a conversation between Adam and Eve. He discovers they have been forbidden to eat from the...

Before the fall, the love that Adam and Eve share, both spiritual and sexual, is in harmony with God's desire and plan for humankind. Adam is the head of their relationship. He leads by putting...

An epic or Homeric simile is not just characterized by use of the words "like" or "as" to make a single comparison. It is an extended simile—it goes on and on. For example, in The Odyssey, an epic...

It is very interesting to analyse Satan's speech in Book I of this epic classic, especially considering the depth of the defeat that he has just been experienced before being cast out of heaven and...

To address this question about John Milton's Paradise Lost, take a close look at Milton's life and the ideas that appear in his work. First, it is worth noting that Milton was considered a...

Satan has several different reactions here, as he and Beelzebub converse and ponder their plight in Hell. They have fallen after the war in heaven and his first reaction is a sense of remorse, even...

According to Milton in Paradise Lost, sin entered the world the very moment that Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Prior to this fateful event, there was neither...

The humility of the speaker (Milton himself) consists chiefly of his absolute submission to the will of God. He sees himself as an instrument of God, and the specific purpose he assigns to himself...

The first lines of Book I of John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost, refer to "the fruit / Of that Forbidden Tree whose mortal taste / Brought death into the World and all our woe..." Adam tells...

There are many, many ways to contrast Paradise Lost with the other 3 epics of antiquity. The most striking difference is era; Paradise Lost is a 17th century epic poem, written in blank verse,...

Paradise Lost is full of allusions. Milton had a reputation for being extremely well-read, and he wove allusions, both classical and biblical, throughout his epic poem. For example, on the...

Milton's Paradise Lost is packed with original, vivid, and often symbolic imagery. I have included and explained three such examples below. Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that...

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different objects or ideas through linking words including “like” and “as.” Examples of similes include “She sings like an angel” and “I feel as big...

The poet William Blake once famously said—or infamously, depending how you look at it—that in his portrayal of Satan, Milton was of the devil's party without knowing it. The Romantic generation,...

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader of a work of literature knows something the characters do not. In this case, we as readers are told what God has planned for Satan. God says that...

Assonance can be defined as the repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words. It is largely employed as a means of...

In Book I, Hell is described as a fiery prison. Satan is thrown into Hell, in "Adamantine" (inflexible) chains and "penal" (punishing) fire, chained on a burning lake. As Satan views his...

Satan’s speeches in Milton’s Paradise Lost are interesting not only for what they say about the different topics he discusses but also for what they reveal or imply about Satan himself. Whenever...

What is so fascinating about this epic classic is the way that Milton takes so many elements of classical literature and adopts them, but only to subvert them. Consider the variety of aspects in...

John Milton's Paradise Lost is broken up into three parts: Books 1-4 focus on Satan Books 5-8 focus on Christ Books 9-12 focus on Adam and Eve. Milton believes in Monism (one God), so Satan and...

I'm not sure that he has one. In order to have a tragic flaw, you have to be a tragic hero, and in order to be a tragic hero you need to be a fundamentally good character who is brought low by a...