Paradise Lost

John Milton

Paradise Lost• Milton took just a few verses from the Bible,

mainly Genesis, and developed them into a 10, 565-line poem.

• Although the poem ranges back and forth from Heaven and Hell, the most important action takes place on Earth. Adam and Eve are given the choice of obeying or disobeying God.

• They choose to disobey, and having done so, they accept their punishment and make the best of the life that is left to them.

Pandemonium – the capital of Hell

• Adam and Eve are the heroes of Milton’s epic, and they represent us all.

• Main Theme:   In Book 1 of Paradise Lost, Milton reveals the central theme of the work: to justify the ways of God to man. Justify here means to explain and defend, and ultimately to vindicate, God’s course of action in dealing with Adam and Eve after they succumb to the temptation of Satan and eat forbidden fruit.   

• Paradise Lost published in 10-book form, 1667

• Paradise Lost re-published in 12-book form, 1674

Characters• God the Father, God the Son Two of the three

divine persons making up the all-powerful Godhead, the single deity that created and rules all that exists outside of itself. The third divine person, the Holy Spirit, does not play a role in Paradise Lost.       

• Satan (Lucifer, Archfiend) Powerful and prideful angel who, with legions of supporters, leads an unsuccessful rebellion against God and suffers eternal damnation. To gain revenge, he devises a plan to corrupt God's newly created beings, Adam and Eve, through deceit.

• Adam and Eve - The first human beings, created by God to fill the void that resulted when God cast Satan and his supporters out of the celestial realm.

• Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel - Powerful and fearless angels on the side of God.   

• Beelzebub, Mammon, Belial, Moloch - Powerful leaders in Satan's army

Temptation of Eve – William Blake

• Ithuriel, Zephron - Angels who expel Satan from the Garden of Eden with the help of a sign from God.   

• Mulciber - Fallen angel who designs hell's capital city and seat of government, Pandemonium

• Sin - Daughter of Satan. She was born from his head in the manner of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and war, who sprang from the forehead of Zeus, king of the gods.   

• Death - Son of Satan and Sin  

• Various Other Angels and Devils   

Milton’s Solar System• In describing the planets and other celestial bodies,

Milton models God’s creation on the Ptolemaic design (also called the geocentric design) rather than the Copernican design (also called the heliocentric design).

• The Ptolemaic design placed earth at the center of the solar system, with the sun and other celestial bodies orbiting it. Copernicus and other scientists later proved that the earth orbits the sun.

• Milton was aware of the Copernican theory, but he used the Ptolemaic design–either because he believed it was the more credible theory or because he believed it would better serve his literary purpose.

Ptolemeic System

Milton’s Style

• Paradise Lost is written in blank verse.

• Unrhymed iambic pentameter

• John Milton did not think that his poem had to rhyme, since Classical poetry (e.g. The Iliad) did not

• Milton uses enjambment throughout the poem. It is a literary device in which a poet does not complete his sentence or phrase at the end of one line but allows it to carry over to the next line, as in this passage near the beginning of the poem.  

“In the Beginning how the Heavens and Earth    Rose out of chaos: Or if Sion Hill    Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that

flowed    Fast by the Oracle of God. . . .” 

Themes

• Central - to justify the ways of God to man

• Lesser:– Fate and Free Will– Sin– Pride– Disobedience– Vanity– Deceit