Introduction-"Paradise Lost"

1. Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 1831-2055.

www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost/

2. "Paradise Lost" is an epic poem written in 17th Century. John Milton writes this poem in Pagan tradition, but makes it Christian, making the reader question whether it is a paratactic or hypotactic narrative. There are twelve books in this lengthy epic poem. Milton starts off the poem with an invocation to a muse, one of which he invents himself. This poem is extremely complex and controversial, but overall, it is about the fall of Satan and the fall of mankind, generally retelling the story of Genesis. Milton starts off the poem with a microcosm, telling us the entire story in short. He then begins to tell of Satan's fall from heaven instead of beginning witht he actual creation. He embellishes on the story of creation, God's talks with his Son, Adam and Eve, and Satan. This story is intriguing and extremely creative.

3. This poem kept me interested the entire time. Milton's descriptions and creativity blew me away. This poem is extremely controversial in my opinion so the fact that he wrote it in the 17th century blows my mind. The way things were in the past are obviously much different now, so I imagine that this work was not accepted in the way that it is today.

4. I would compare this work to Wordsworth's "Nuns Fret Not". I realize that this may be a far-fetched comparison, but this Italian sonnet is about nuns and how they follow a rigid set of rules, much like many felt Milton should have when writing "Paradise Lost" considering it is a Christian story, but instead he wrote with many Pagan undertones. Ironically, Nuns find freedom in a confined life style, and even the rhyme scheme and meter define this. Milton wrote his twleve books freely in order to show others his way of thinking, and he even suggests in the poem that "Paradise Lost" should be viewed as equal to the Bible. He follows no boundaries, freeing himself to write what he desires, keeping in mind the general theme of the book of Genesis,yet nuns follow boundaries, yet this is a freeing feeling for them.