Third refusal; Jesus has resisted Satan and saved mankind, showing how patience and faith are stronger than any devilish temptation. Except for some unusual imagery, there is nothing even remotely comprarable to the visionary quality of the previous work. Milton's peculiar poem is not to be considered his own interpretation of the Scriptures though: it's a fervent believer's insight, his attempt to decipher their symbols and mysteries.
Tradition is not rejected: what the poet does is exploring some of its innermost roads, which is a great achievement in itself. Definitely worth a second read.
View 2 comments. Sep 05, B. Adam is a noble yet fallen hero while the Son of God as he is referred to during the poem is the true hero for beating the villain once and being implied to do it again through prophecy to Adam. I think it is worth seeing that the comparisons between Adam and Jesus are everywhere in this book. But the fact that we learn that Jesus was the one who ultimately kicked Satan and the rebel angels out of heaven is what should clearly tell you who the hero of the poem is.
Now to the one we all want to hear: Wow is there not a more scary, dangerous, and charming character in literary history than Milton's Satan? Anyone now adays who comes to this poem knows that Satan is bad and that he is Every time he speaks it is interesting.
He is intentionally slick and charming in a ominous sort of way. In the early books we see his retorical flourish on display after he and his defeated army regroup in hell and he convinces them to let him stay as leader and he puts on such a speech that you would be crazy not to make him leader.
Into our room of bliss thus high advanced Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright Little inferiour; whom my thoughts pursue With wonder, and could love, so lively shines In them divine resemblance, and such grace The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
And should I at your harmless innocence Melt, as I do, yet publick reason just, Honour and empire with revenge enlarged, By conquering this new world, compels me now To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.
Of course it is all build-up to Book IX 9 where the villain protagonist reaches his peak and the story itself shifts degrees. When Satan seduces Eve it is one of the most suspense and thriller-filled passages in western literature and the whole time you are or should be William Blake!
He obviously did not need to stick around because his work was done. When Adam finds out he is horrified and knows automatically that Eve is condemned but his love for her is so that he can't imagine her dying alone " How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost, Defac't, deflourd, and now to Death devote? Rather how hast thou yeelded to transgress The strict forbiddance, how to violate The sacred Fruit forbidd'n!
I want to mention that I don't spoil everything and Milton has inserted some rather interesting details into what happens in the aftermath of the fall. I want to focus on rather quickly on refuting something Eve said during her debate with Adam once they both realize they're screwed.
Eve contends that if the Devil got Adam alone he would have easily have fallen but this I don't believe. I think that although Satan's ultimate goal was to get Adam to eat the fruit but he chose the correct method by simply following Eve because he correctly identified their weaknesses by spying on them. He knew that Eve was a narcissist and that Adam would second guess himself when it came to Eve. I think the way it worked was because Adam was created directly by God like Lucifer himself he would be wiser and more faithful and more of a problem to persuade.
Eve on the other hand was created from Adam, indirectly by God, and only ever knew God through Adam or an angel and was more fascinated by her own being than anything else she was really pretty. So Satan said get the girl and the girl gets the guy. The last lines see the opening quote of this review of this poem sum up perfectly what Milton hope we ultimately took out of this review: that the fall while tragic was not the end, that Christ's intercession for mankind negates mankind's fall in the end, and do not have Kings because they make God sad-I guess.
View all 3 comments. Like Dante: great literature, terrible theology. I can see why everyone says Satan is the most interesting character.
I was rather disappointed when he drops out of the story halfway through. The passages about Eve's special susceptibility to sin particularly infuriated me. As if Adam wasn't just as vulnerable to temptation or didn't rebel against God just as much.
As if. I think this was my seventh reading of PL , only my second of Regained. I never get tired of them. Not one of my favorites. This book took me a long time to read. Three months to be exact. It was hard to get used to the language, but once I did I really liked how Milton was able to use two meanings for a lot of words — the literal meaning and a figurative meaning.
It was in This book took me a long time to read. Satan is also very sarcastic. Is it wrong that I found him a little funny?? I thought the whole book was just deep random thoughts about the fall of Adam and Eve. Another thing I found interesting was how Milton incorporated a lot of Greek mythology in the story.
So Sin is his lover AND daughter. Milton lists a lot of demons by name in Book I. One demon that really caught my eye was named Dagon and he was a mermaid. Did mermaids start out as demons!? That kind of blows my mind. And then when, towards the end of Book I, all the demons have a council. It is more civil than any political debate I have ever heard. I found that so bizarre.
It was like Shakespeare meets the Bible. I feel very accomplished and a little more educated than I was before. Paradise Regained is 50 pages long. Paradise Regained Summary I searched everywhere for a basic plot summary for Paradise Regained and I couldn't find one.
So I wrote my own. Book 1 - John the Baptists announces that this is Christ. He's baptized and God pronounces him his son. Satan hears it and has another council on what to do. Satan is going to "snare" Jesus with fraud and tricks.
Jesus meditates in the desert on how best to defeat Satan. Satan finds him and tells him to turn the stones into bread because Jesus has been fasting for 40 days. Book 2 - Meanwhile, the people who had been baptized were still at the river Jordan.
Mary his mother starts to worry about where Jesus is. Satan has another council because Jesus is not as easy to tempt as he thought he would be. Jesus dreams of prophets being fed by God. Satan tempts Jesus with riches. Jesus: No thanks. Book 3 - Satan tries flattery and offers glory. Jesus says glory belongs to God. Satan takes Jesus to a mountain and shows him armies he can use to become King of the Jews. Jesus says he'll wait for the right time.
Book 4 - Satan won't quit though he knows he'll probably lose. Asks Jesus to worship him. Jesus says he only worships God. Then Satan tempts him with knowledge. Jesus says he already knows what he needs to know. Satan sends Jesus nightmares. Then Satan tells him to throw himself off the mountain and angels with catch him. Angels come a knock Satan over and take Jesus to a safe place.
They give him fruit from Paradise and the angels sing to him. This book is also reviewed on my blog Books: A true story Feb 23, Linda Isakson rated it it was amazing Shelves: classic-literature , john-milton.
To be a fan of classic literature it is imperative to read, at least once, the powerful poetic epic that is "Paradise Lost". As far as "Paradise Regained", well Most everyone living in a Western Civilization already knows the story: Satan is expelled from Heaven and decides to defile the new world God created. He sneaks into the Garden of Eden and finds a way to ruin God's plans by tempting Eve to eat from the tree of To be a fan of classic literature it is imperative to read, at least once, the powerful poetic epic that is "Paradise Lost".
He sneaks into the Garden of Eden and finds a way to ruin God's plans by tempting Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. Eve convinces Adam to do the same and, eventually, they get kicked out of Eden and set on their own.
Since I'm reading this for pleasure and not for academia, it took me a few pages to adjust to the style of writing, but once accustomed, it was easy to follow. The prose and word selection are incomparably beautiful. My favorite quotes from the story include: "The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way. Angry, Satan decides to overthrow God by tempting his son.
While walking through the desert, Jesus is come upon by Satan offering creature comforts, power and knowledge. Jesus rejects all. In the end, Satan is undone by his own scheming and Jesus is left to fulfill his destiny.
A destiny Jesus chose for himself in "Paradise Lost". He seemed rather defeated and whiny in "Regained", whereas he appeared charismatic and multi-dimensional in "Lost". I also enjoyed the fact that even God was shown to have some petulant qualities. Recommended for those who are patient enough to become familiar with the writing style reminiscent of Virgil and Dante, and for those who love epic poetry.
Aug 06, Clayton rated it it was amazing. Paradise Lost is bar-none the greatest work of literature in the English language, and I suspect it stands up pretty well against what the rest of the world has to offer. Milton took a handful of Bible verses and expanded them into 10, near-perfect lines on the nature of sin, temptation, good and evil. In it, he creates a powerfully sympathetic Lucifer, posits the single most persuasive argument for Human free-will ever attempted, and paints the fall of Man as the greatest tragedy of all time Paradise Lost is bar-none the greatest work of literature in the English language, and I suspect it stands up pretty well against what the rest of the world has to offer.
In it, he creates a powerfully sympathetic Lucifer, posits the single most persuasive argument for Human free-will ever attempted, and paints the fall of Man as the greatest tragedy of all time. If there is argument about who the story's hero is, it is because the story is told so objectively. Every character is treated as though he has something to offer and a story worth telling.
Lucifer plays martyr to what he sees as a battle for independence from Tyranny, and is martyred a second time in a heroic final strike against his oppressor. God's story is the tragedy of creating a being who he knows is destined to disappoint him. Eve's story is the tragedy of embracing her weakness in a desire to be stronger. And Adam is given the ultimate choice: to continue in Paradise alone or fall with the woman he loves. Every aspect of the story has the potential to resonate with every reader, and every line is a study in expression and verse.
There is simply nothing better. Paradise Regained, on the other hand, is probably actually better. That is its tragedy. It is not as accessible by half as Paradise Lost, it is not as exciting or as varied, and at barely a third the length, it still will not find as many readers.
It is a more beautiful poem and an even more perfect expression of a great thinker's ideas and talent, but it does not have the reach or appeal of its companion piece. If you have not read Paradise Lost, read it. If your mind is still young, it can be difficult at first. Push through, it's worth it.
Then read Paradise Regained, if not for yourself, for Milton. He would've wanted you to. Eve, however, stubbornly insists, claiming that if she is tempted she will be able to prove her steadfast virtue by resisting.
Adam yields the point. Eve is found alone by Satan, who cunningly winds his way into her favour, asserting that his power of speech came from eating of the forbidden Tree and suggesting that, if she were to eat also, she would become as a goddess.
He leads her to the Tree and there persuades her to eat. Delighted with the taste, she decides, after some deliberation, to share her new knowledge with her partner and hurries to Adam. He is at first profoundly shocked but eventually agrees to eat also, so that he may at least share in her fate. Nature is shaken to its foundations by this double treachery. At first Adam and Eve are drunk with the pleasure of knowledge, but before long they fall to mutual recrimination.
Both are condemned to die, though not yet. Before he returns to Heaven the Son takes pity on their shameful nakedness and clothes them. Sin and Death, still waiting at the Gates of Hell, sense the great changes on Earth and resolve to follow their father Satan. They create a vast bridge spanning Chaos but meet the returning Satan before they have set out. Satan arrives at Pandemonium to boast of his success, but instead of applause is greeted by a general hiss: both he and his fellows have been temporarily turned into serpents, fulfilling the judgement passed on him in Paradise.
Adam laments his fallen state and cannot at first be comforted by Eve. God accepts these intercessions but nevertheless insists that they must be expelled from Paradise. Michael discovers a mournful and repentant Eve who yet believes that she and Adam may be allowed to stay in Paradise, even if condemned to hard labour. Michael delivers their sentence, but then takes Adam to the summit of a high hill and shows him in a vision what is to come, beginning with the first murder—the killing of Abel by Cain, both sons of Adam.
Michael and Adam descend the hill to wake Eve, who has meanwhile been enjoying a consoling dream. Taking them by the hand, Michael leads the pair out of Paradise: they shed some tears, but. Over a long period the rhyme begins to draw attention to itself and its chiming regularity proves a distraction.
Iambic pentameter—the most popular line in English verse—means that each line contains ten syllables, of which every second syllable is stressed. It has the advantage of resembling normal speech rhythms more closely than any other metre: consider how quickly we forget in the theatre if we ever notice that most of Shakespeare is in verse. Milton is especially in love with exotic proper nouns and the associations which they so resonantly conjure:. Just as Milton wants to suggest the universality of his history in Paradise Lost , so also with geography: the whole earth, in all its historical and geographical diversity, is his subject.
It is impressive, and in some ways impressionistic: he is perhaps stronger on general atmosphere than concrete precision of description, for example. But, well read, Paradise Lost generates a cumulative power and magnetism unlike anything else in English literature.
Literary Devices Here's where you'll find analysis of the poem as a whole, from themes and symbols to key facts. Themes Motifs Symbols. Quotes Find the quotes you need to support your essay, or refresh your memory of the poem by reading these key quotes. Important Quotes Explained. Quick Quizzes Test your knowledge of Paradise Lost with quizzes about every section, major characters, themes, symbols, and more. Book Full Book Quiz.
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