John Milton's Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is a biblical epic poem by John Milton, written in 1668, the most well known epic poem in English. It has about 10,000 lines of verse. Milton was a highly religious man, a Protestant until late in life, who became apart of the new government in England, after they chopped off King Henry's head. He worked in government in between writing; poems and discourses on things like divorce and monarchy, he argued that the Divine Right of Kings was wrong, even idolatrous. Paradise Lost tells the story of the fall of man, when Satan tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and ultimately lose Eternity with God in the Garden in Eden.

The story has everything; love, war, peace, evil, politics, science fiction style peaks into the future, marriage talk, sex talk, metaphysics, and philosophy. There are a lot of themes that this book touches on. I'd like to go over a few that I found interesting.

Milton shows us that his God in Paradise Lost is an artistic god, omnific, knowing all, creating all, everything. God is professorial here, the ultimate Monarch. In the passages where we see how God created the Earth, we see the true artist in his godly abilities. Milton's God is also shown as the ultimate sovereign, who sends his Warrior Son Chieftain to single-handedly destroy Satan and his evil angel allies, sending them to Hell. This is unusual because Milton doesn't believe in the Divine Right of Kings, but despite this he chooses to write a biblical epic about the most divine right of thee King. Milton strives to show us "the ways of God to men". Here we must take note and separate Milton's work in Parliament from his work as a poet. The artist's pen differs greatly from the political essays. 

Another theme is the justification of Satan being a sympathetic character. Here, Satan is portrayed as a bad guy, yes, but there's strong argumentation for Satan being a more understandable character than Milton's God, empathy. Sure, Satan is evil, and wants to overthrow God with a third of the angels, but in seeing this we see that, yes he is proud, but we can also see his "radicalism and fraudulence, freedom and its counterfeit fused in a single personality not easily pigeonholed." (hudsonreview) Milton doesn't see Satan as a hero, because Milton understands whats its like to go against an absolute soverign and lose. We can sympathize with Satan's determination, never to yield, perhaps because its inherently human, which we see when Eve eats from the Forbidden fruit. 

Another strong theme is the relationship between Adam and Eve. There's a hierarchical aspect to their relationship because when Raphael comes to warn them of an approaching enemy in the future, Raphael mostly talks with Adam. They talk about marriage, the enemy, even sex. When Satan enters their lives, things change forever. It seems to me that the way Raphael warns Adam and speaks mostly to him, it was like an early temptation for Eve to rebel. 

Once we see Satan travel through the Earth's globe, and take the form of the serpent, we know its all over for the human race. However, what comes off as a surprise is the psychological justification for Eve choosing to rebel from God, and eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and that justification creates greater empathy for Eve than it did for Satan. Its interesting, what a way to write. Of course, Adam choose to Fall with Eve because he "loves his wife too much." He can't stand the thought of being away from her, and the thought of losing another rib doesn't sound too good.

The book is quite astonishing. There's a great scene where after the Fall, Adam talks with the archangel Michael and is shown the future of the human race. This part had a strong emotional effect on me, in some aspects I could see how that future represents the world of today in a way, I almost can't explain it in words, the sheer emotional intelligence brings to mind Wagner's music (my signature daily favorite is Tannhauser), or the sounds of the archaic delta bluesmen, with their yells, shouts, blue notes expressing emotion and pain. This section had a science fiction vibe to it, because they were looking at the heavens at this portal, and seeing everything that would happen on Earth. It was beautiful. 

Another highlight was the description of the civil war between God's angels, Satan, and his army of evil angels. Again, I really like the archangel Michael's stature, because he's the ultimate angel-warrior, with a flaming sword, second only to the Son of God Himself. We get this description of the most epic civil war in the universe. Ultimately though it is Christ Himself, The Son of God, who comes out and single-handedly defeats Satan and his army, sending them to Hell. 

Yet another interesting section was a talk between Satan and his evil angels in Hell. Here we get a real glimpse of the ultimate evil-doers in their lair. This section gave me a strong Dante's Inferno vibe, reminiscent because I just finished reading that a few weeks back. 

Paradise Lost is one of the all time great writings. Its something I plan on going back to and rereading, and I think the poetic beauty in every line will be just as exciting the next time I read it. In today's world, Milton is still relevant. These ideas haven't died as technology has taken over, rather these ideas are forever, and shouldn't be overlooked in the modern age of literature. This isn't just for Lit grad students, its for everyone.