John Milton - Paradise Lost

     John Milton was born in London, his father was a law writer who had achieved some success by the time Milton was born. This prosperity afforded Milton an excellent education, first private tutoring, then a private school and finally Cambridge. Milton, a studious boy, excelled in languages and classical studies. His father had left roman catholicism and Milton was raised protestant, with a heavy tendency toward puritanism.
      Paradise Lost is an epic poem written by John Milton, one of the greatest poets of the english language. Milton's powerful, rhetoric prose and the eloquence of his poetry had an immense influence especially on the 18th century verse. Milton published pamphlets defending civil and religious rights. Milton speaker begins Paradise lost by stating that his subject will be Adam and Eve's disobedience and fall from grace. He invokes a heavenly muse and asks for help in relating his ambitious story and God's plan for humankind. The story opens in hell, where Satan and his followers are recovering from defeat in a war they waged against God. They build a palace, called Pondemonium. He journeys across chaos till he sees the new universe floating near the larger globe which is heaven. God sees Satan flying towards this world and fortells the fall of man. His son, offers to sacrifice himself for man's salvation. Satan flies to the sun, where he tricks an angel, Uriel, into showing him the way to man's home. Satan gains entrance into the Garden of Eden, where he finds Adam and Eve and becomes jealous of them. Uriel warns Gabriel and his angels of Satan's presence. Satan is apprehended by them and banished from Eden. God sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan and he relates how the world was created so mankind could one day replace the fallen angels in heaven. Satan returns to earth, and enters a serpant. Finding Eve alone, he induces her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam, resigned to join inher fate, eats also. Their innocence is lost and they become aware of their nakedness. In shame and despair, they become hostile to each other.The Son of God descends to earth to judge the sinners, Satan and his crew are turned into serpents as punishment and Adam reconciles with Eve.
   In sadness, mitigated with hope, Adam and Eve are sent away from the Garden. The themes of this play are the importance of obedience to God, the hierarchical nature of the universe; the motifs are light and dark and conversation contemplation; and the symbol is Adam's wreath.