Paradise Lost

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Paradise Lost

• John Milton

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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.

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Pandemonium the capital of Hell
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• Adam and Eve are the heroes of Miltons 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,
  Gods 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

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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.

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• 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

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Temptation of Eve William Blake
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• 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   

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Miltons Solar System

• In describing the planets and other celestial
  bodies, Milton models Gods 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 designeither because he
  believed it was the more credible theory or
  because he believed it would better serve his
  literary purpose.

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Ptolemeic System
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Miltons 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

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• 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. . . . 

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Themes

• Central - to justify the ways of God to man
• Lesser
• Fate and Free Will
• Sin
• Pride
• Disobedience
• Vanity
• Deceit