Paradise Lost

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The front page of the poem.

Great and terrible Books

On our shelf:

110 People Who Are Screwing Up America Galileo Was Wrong, The Church Was Right The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience On the Origin of Species Jurassic Park The Politician

Writer's block

Roy Masters Christian Schwabe Wayne LaPierre Roger Stone John Major Theodor Adorno v - t - e

“”Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.

—Paradise Lost Book 1 line 263. Probably the poem's most famous quote.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem written by English poet John Milton (1608–1674) that can roughly be considered to be the Protestant version of The Divine Comedy. It was largely written between 1658 and 1663, though it was first published in 1667 and was split into ten books; a revised version that was split into twelve books was published in 1674. The poem details the basic story of Adam and Eve with Satan's rebellion against God being a major part of the plot. The poem had a significant influence on Christianity, with many Christians accepting things like Satan becoming a serpent, Satan leading a rebellion against God, and many of the details of hell as fact despite the fact that these didn't come from the Bible but rather Paradise Lost. It also had a major influence on the secular world, as it's considered to be one of the first works to present a sympathetic, humanlike depiction of Satan, which ended up being a major influence on later portrayals, especially in the Romantic period.

Basic plot summary

A war breaks out between Satan's forces and the forces of God; after three days, Satan's forces are banished from heaven. God creates the world and Adam and Eve, giving them only one commandment: to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan disguises himself as a snake and manipulates Eve into eating from the tree. After learning what happened, Adam ate from the tree as well as he felt bound to Eve. Satan brags to his followers in hell about how his plan worked, but they are all turned to snakes. Pleading to God for forgiveness, Adam is given a vision of the global flood that would kill every human except for a chosen few but also of the eventual Messiah from which humanity can find salvation. Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden, and their relationship with God is much more distant.

References

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Categories:

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• Satanism