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In twelve books of blank verse, John Milton sets out 'to justify the ways of God to men'. The poem opens in Hell, where Satan and the rebel angels lie…
In twelve books of blank verse, John Milton sets out 'to justify the ways of God to men'. The poem opens in Hell, where Satan and the rebel angels lie defeated on a lake of fire, and Satan, declaring it 'better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven', resolves to strike at God through his newest creation. He journeys through Chaos to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve live in innocence. The angel Raphael warns them, telling of the war in Heaven and the creation of the world; Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempts Eve, Adam chooses to share her fall, and they leave Paradise hand in hand.
Context and significance
Milton, who had lost his sight, composed the poem in his head and dictated it to helpers; it was first published in 1667 and revised into twelve books in 1674. Its magnificent Satan led William Blake to say that Milton was 'of the Devil's party without knowing it'. Its sequel is Paradise Regained.
About the author
John Milton (1608–1674) was a London scholar-poet who wrote Lycidas and other early poems before devoting twenty years to politics. He wrote pamphlets defending divorce and the freedom of the press, in his famous Areopagitica, and served Cromwell's government as Latin secretary, losing his sight around 1652.
After the monarchy was restored he was briefly imprisoned and lucky to escape execution. Blind, poor and disappointed, he dictated Paradise Lost, published in 1667, followed by Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. He is often ranked second only to Shakespeare among English poets.