Paradise lost Essays (332 words) - Christian Poetry, John Milton

Paradise lost Written at a time of personal and political crisis in Milton's career (1658-65), Paradise Lost is the greatest epic poem in English literature. It had an immense influence on the English Romantics and, through them, on modern poetry. Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, changed into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgils Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Originally published in 1667 in ten books, Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse written by John Milton; it was republished in 1674 after being divided into twelve books. Milton has presented his version of the disobedience and subsequent expulsion of man from the Garden of Eden. It is an attempt to understand the heavenly proceedings and to comprehend the conflict between God's decrees and free will. Incarnating theological issues in his work, Milton has created a masterpiece. Paradise Lost is not merely the masterpiece of John Milton (1608-74) but a turning point in style and form, which had a profound influence on the poetry of the following century. Divided into two parts, this major survey begins by discussing the revolutionary characteristics of Paradise Lost in the context of contemporary literary norms and examines the theological, psychological, stylistic and narrative innovation in the poem. It then provides a fuller account of the complex, and now obscure political, and theological issues and other issues that Milton's poem addresses and sought to resolve. It concludes by examining the themes discussed in the light of the influence of the poem on the tradition of English literature.