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Pierce M. Fryar
Professor Kim Bauman
English 2322
12 December 2016

Paradise Lost by John Milton

John Milton was born in London during early December of 1608. He had several
siblings but they passed away before adult hood. Milton showed an interest in language
and over the course of his life he learned 6, including Latin Hebrew, and French. In 1629
he attended Cambridge and graduated with a Bachelors of Art, a few years later, in 1632,
he graduated with a Master of Arts. In 1638, John Milton went to Europe, where he
probably met the astronomer Galileo, who was under house arrest at the time. He
returned to England earlier than he had planned because of the impending civil war there.
Milton was a devout Puritan, this means he believed strongly in the beliefs of the bible
and its teachings, and he opposed religious institutions like the Church of England, and
the monarchy, with which it was entwined. He wrote pamphlets on radical topics like
freedom of the press, supported Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War, and was
probably present at the beheading of Charles I. It was during these years that Milton
married for the first time. In 1642, when he was 34, he married 17-year-old Mary Powell.
Several years in the couple separated and Milton was influenced to write The Divorce
Tracts, a series of publications advocating for the availability of divorce. The couple
reunited and had four children before Mary died in 1652. It was also in 1652 that Milton
became totally blind. In 1656, he married Katherine Woodcock. She died in 1658. After

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his release from prison, Milton married for the third time, this time to Elizabeth Minsull.
In 1667, he published Paradise Lost in 10 volumes. It is considered his greatest work and
the greatest epic poem written in English. This is a free verse poem documenting the
experiences of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and how they were eventually
evicted from the Garden being kicked out by God himself. A revised, 12-volume version
of Paradise Lost was published in 1674.
More in depth of Miltons puritanism views were often viewed as being very
radical and in Paradise Lost; Milton expresses a lot of his beliefs and personal truths.
Paradise Lost defines many elements contained in an epic. It is a long, narrative poem. It
exploits a hero, involves warfare and the supernatural, and expresses ideals and traditions
of humans. Other epics with these qualities include The Odyssey and The Illiad.
This is a blank verse poem, which means that it doesnt rhyme. This is common in
these extremely long narratives. Milton drew inspiration from Shakespeare and used his
Iambic- Pentameter to write his story. In this style, a line is five long, unaccented
syllables, each followed by a short, accented one.
The first edition of the book was written and released in 1667 and was 10 chapters
long. Later Milton went back and reorganized the poem which split several of the longer
chapters up, after all of the changes were implemented, Paradise Lost, was twelve books
long. Milton also added a Summary Prose into the start of the book that gave a brief
summery of the plot of each of the twelve books.
The main storyline of the poem revolves around the roles and stories of Adam and
Eve. We also see a more in depth look into the role that Satan plays in the downfall of
man. Towards the end of the books Milton includes a summery and analysis of Genesis.

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Paradise Lost covers the origins of both Adam and eve, but also Satan and the
Garden, also referred to in the story as being Paradise. The brief origin of Satan is seen
as we learn that his first name was Lucifer, and he was strong and powerful angel.
Lucifer became so powerful that he thought he could take Gods place, and led some of
his followers in a war against God himself. Not surprisingly, Lucifer lost, and was
condemned to Hell, along with all of his followers (Quint). Now known as Satan he
turned his hatred to mankind and tempted Adam and Eve into sinning, this act not only
got them kicked out of the garden but it also cause the ultimate downfall of the human
race. Sin was introduced to the world.
The action that starts off our story starts with Satan and his followers being cast
into Hell and chained into the Lake of Fire. Quickly trying to flee from their agony the
free their bonds and head for the land. After they get to land they build a Pandemonium,
which was wild and noisy. The demons use this new area as a meeting and planning
grounds, and one of the more trusted demons, Beezelbub, suggests to Satan that they try
to corrupt Gods beloved creation, mankind. Satan decides that this is a good plans and
embarks on the journey alone. Before Satan could leave Hell he is met by his two
children, Sin and Death, they follow him and construct a bridge between the earthly
world and the spiritual realm Known as Hell.
Very similarly God and his angels are preparing and discussing the events that
have taken place. God holds a council and during this time God reveals Satans
intentions. When the horrible intentions are revealed, Gods son goes as a sacrifice for
men. Meanwhile, Satan travels to earth and is met by the archangel Uriel, who is the
guardian of the sun. In order to get past Uriel, Satan disguises himself as a Cherub, which

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is a winged angelic being described in biblical tradition as attending on God. Cherubs
are often represented in ancient Middle Eastern art as a lion or bull with eagles' wings and
a human face, and regarded in traditional Christian angelology as an angel of the second
highest order of the nine fold celestial hierarchy. Satan lies to Uriel telling him that he
wishes to see and praise Gods new creation. Uriel agrees to let him pass, and Satan is
disgusted and sorrowful due to the immense beauty of this paradise. Satan infiltrates
Paradise by turning himself into a bird. With Uriel noticing the discomfort and emotion
expressed in the face of the Cherub he told his other angels to go look for an imposter
amongst them.
In the Garden, Adam and Eve have one rule, and it is to never eat of the fruit
coming from the Tree of Knowledge. After a long hard day of working in the garden
Adam and Eve rest (Quint). During this time, Satan takes advantage of the situation and
takes the form of a toad and starts to whisper into Eves ear. Soon after Gabriel, the lead
angel in charge of guarding paradise fines Satan and demands that he leaves. Because of
the confrontation Satan prepares himself to do battle with Gabriel but God makes a sign
appear in the sky above them, and Satan leaves. Eve wakes up and tells Adam about her
dreams she had that tempted her to eat the forbidden fruit (Quint). God is now worried
about his creation so he sends Raphael down to paradise in order to teach Adam and Eve
the dangers of the Forbidden Tree and of Satan.
Furious from being exiled from the garden, Satan begins to form his armies of
war against Heaven and God. Almost as a turning point one of the fallen named Abdiel
returns to God. Michael and Gabriel lead Gods Heavenly armies against Satans dark
forces and completely destroys them (Quint). The great battle only lasts for 2 days. Jesus

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comes and ends the war and then all of the remaining demonic army is sent back and
banished to Hell. Adam is warned about all the chaos and controlling plans that Satan has
laid out is told to keep a watchful eye on the garden.
Only after 8 days, Satan returns to the garden and takes the form of a serpent.
Because of the large workload Adam and Eve decide that splitting up to cover the task is
the best approach (Kuntz). Satan is overjoyed when he finds Eve alone in paradise and he
strikes up a conversation with her. The serpent starts explaining to her that God is
actually testing her and Adams courage in that he really wants them to partake of the
forbidden fruits and be like him. After some hesitation and resistance, Eve thinks she
realizes Gods intentions and takes a bite of the forbidden fruit stemming from The Tree of
Knowledge. Eve then seeks out Adam and tells him what she did, Adam is petrified and
horrified that Eve would do such a thing (Kuntz). After some inward debate, Adam is so
blinded by love that he decides he would rather eat the forbidden fruit and suffer the
immense consequences than remain pure and have to live without Eve.
When God learns of the disobedience of his creation he sends his son to deliver
consequences and punishments. Jesus not only punishes the serpent by making it and its
decedents be forced to crawl through the dirt, but he also condemns Adam and Eve to
suffering pain and eventually dying. He also makes all women submit to their husbands
and suffer great pains during childbirth. Then he directs his attention to men and forces
all men to toil and labor over the earth in order to grow and eat food. While the humans
are being punished and exiled, Satan returns to Hell where they are celebrating and
cheering (Kuntz).

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Adam and Eve are nearing death, and they start to argue and blame each other out
of anger. Adam starts contemplating why God would ever make Eve in the first place,
and Eve tries to convince him that if they continue to love each other they will prevail
Due to a lack luster love from Adam, Eve contemplates suicide, but Adam convinces her
not to do it. They eventually are so broken that they pray to God and repent. After hearing
the prays, God sends Michael to escort them from paradise (Kuntz). However, before
they leave he puts Eve to sleep and takes Adam to the highest point of the garden and
shows him a sign of the future of mankind. Following the vision, Michael explains to
Adam and Eve that their time is up and he leads them out of paradise and into the new
foreboding world.
Some of the major themes stemming from this Epic poem are that of Hierarchy
and Order. During the seventeenth century the spiritual hierarchy was Heaven above,
Earth below, and Hell below Earth. Corresponding with the order of the cosmos, the most
important hierarchy is Heaven with the creator and ruler of the universe, God. Due to the
holy trinity, the son is viewed as a different individual but the same rank as God. Below
them are the angels, consisting of Archangels and normal angels. Throughout these are
different categories depending on their proximity of Gods light (Crossley). Then on
earth, God created Adam and Eve to be over the animas and to rule over them by giving
them names. Below them and the lowest of all are the fallen angels, the demons that were
cast out and forbidden from heaven.
Some more themes were that of Predestination, which is the belief that humans
are born with the being predicated by God on weather or not they will end up in Hell or
in Heaven, and the beliefs surrounding the free will of humans. Milton strongly argues

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that humans have all the free will God has allotted to them, and he doesnt take from
them despite him being all knowing and foreseeing their future. In Paradise Lost God
says that he gives his creatures the option to serve or disobey. Along with the
predestination we come to the theory of the Fortunate Fall, which is that God allowed
the Fall of Man so that he could bring good out.
The topics and themes of love, marriage and Agape love are also major themes in
this story. Love is one of Gods major strong suits and themes. God expresses love and
Agape love throughout the entire story (Crossley). The main differences between normal
love and Agape love is that normal Fileo love, or brotherly love, is the love between
friends or family. While Agape love is the unconditional love that can only be expressed
by a perfect being, in this case Milton wholly believes God is the perfect being. When
atom and Eve are introduced Milton emphasizes the idea of marriage. Going back to the
ideas of hierarchy, Milton explains the roles in marriage. He says that man is created
higher than women because they communicate with God directly, while women are
second in command because they communicate to God through their husbands.
Sin and Innocence are another large theme in Paradise Lost. This entire story is
basically over how sin enters the world and how sin breaks Gods laws. Milton describes
natural joy as blissful ignorance. Some examples of this are when Adam questions the
teachings of Raphael and persists to know more about death, however Raphael
discourages Adam from looking too much into the cosmos (Crossley). The forbidden tree
gave Adam the powers of Good and Evil. However with this comes evil knowledge. At
the end of the poem when Adam is shown the vision of the future there is zero hope left
in the world. It is a dark and miserable place filled with disease and suffering. So much

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sin is going on families are fighting families and the world is divided amongst
themselves.
The entirety of Paradise Lost is over the fall of man. The premise of the story is
covered by Christian literature depicting the fall of Lucifer, Adam and Eve, and the
banishment from the garden (Crossley). Each of the books starts off with a summery an
argument; these are presented to readers as a guide to going through the poem. In
conclusion John Milton wrote a profound story that has interests and educated many for
generations.

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Austin, Michael. New Criterion. On first reading Paradise Lost, vol. 34, no. 7, 2016,
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"Paradise Lost: John Milton - Summary and Critical Analysis." Paradise Lost: John
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Quint, David. Inside 'Paradise Lost' : Reading The Designs Of Milton's Epic.
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