In Paradise Lost Milton produced poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties – blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution – Paradise Lost’s apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to ‘justify the ways of God to men’, or exposes the cruelty of Christianity. Read Paradise Lost online at Read Print.
If you've already read it, take a quiz to test your memory.
Did you know? Paradise Lost is an epic poem written in blank verse (regular meter, no rhyme).
Have you read this classic? Are you a fan of poetry?
