Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained

Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received.

This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after.

Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim.

John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king.

Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements.

Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause
Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in hell:
Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n.

(Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!)

The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation.

A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course.


Milton Accessible   January 21, 2000
Thomas A. Copeland (Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

Ricks provides the most helpful and least pedantic footnotes since James Holly Hanford's edition. They are unobtrusive and on the same page as the text. The text itself is reliable and in modern spelling, but Milton's apostrophes have been retained to make certain that the pronunciations he specified (for metrical reasons) are indicated. There could, perhaps, be wider margins for making annotations.


Shakespeare's Successor   March 26, 2000
Sean Ares Hirsch
44 out of 49 found this review helpful

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were indeed grand masters of literature for all time. "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" is enough to put John Milton in the same category. Like Marlowe and Shakespeare, Milton demonstrates extreme scholarship and a superb mastery of the language. It is interesting how Milton takes figures that are mentioned briefly in the scriptures and turns them into major characters. It is also frightening how Milton was able to make God and Satan 3 dimensional as opposed to simply good (in God's case) and evil (in Satan's case). This book is not for everyone. But if you do not mind an unorthodox portrayal of God and Satan and if you want to enjoy beautiful language, superb images, dramatic confrontations, and powerful images, you must read this masterpiece composed with superb and delicate skill.


A Blind Man creates a Sensational Poem!!!   April 18, 2005
Stephen Pletko (London, Ontario, Canada)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

+++++

(Note that this review is for the book "Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained" published by Signet Classic in 2001.)

"Of Man's First disobedience, and the Fruit
Of the Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat"

Thus begins some say the greatest and most controversial epic non-rhyming poem (which has two parts, some say two poems) in English literature. The first part was published in 1667 and the second part in 1671 by a then blind poet named John Milton (1608 to 1674).

"Paradise Lost" consists of twelve long chapters or "books." "Paradise Regained" is the more subdued and much simpler second part and consists of four books. The first part is centered around the biblical story of the fall of Adam and Eve and ranges from heaven to hell while the second part is the story of Satan's triple temptation of the Son of God in the wilderness.

Both parts of this poem can be read for their magnificent poetry, their powerful imagery and language, their imaginative vision and storytelling, or their complex and passionate view of human suffering.

My favorite lines from this poem are:

" The mind is its own place, and in itself,
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."

Besides the poem, this particular book has three main features:

(1) Introduction by Dr. Susanne Woods, a Professor of English (at Wheaton College in Massachusetts). It is excellent and provides valuable insight on Milton's poem.

(2) Notes and Footnotes by Chris Ricks, a professor of humanities (at Boston University). Each chapter or book of the poem begins with a brief "argument," a note that summarizes in modern English each book's contents. I found these an invaluable aid. As well, there are footnotes throughout that help the reader with obscure language and indicate nuances and puns.

(3) Chronology of Milton's life. When did Milton go blind? Was Milton married? Was Milton ever arrested? These are the sorts of questions that are answered instantly in this section.

This poem can be a challenging read but ultimately worth it. I recommend not rushing when reading it.

The artwork on the cover of this book is impressive. It is an image entitled "The Shepherd's Dream" (from "Paradise Lost") by artist Henry Fuseli.

Finally, to get an extraordinary visual impression of the first, longer part of this poem, I recommend "Dore's Illustrations for Paradise Lost" (1993) by Gustave Dore.

In conclusion, be sure two read this epic poem to see why it "has thrilled, challenged, and sometimes dismayed readers from the seventeenth to twenty-first century!"

(published 2001; introduction; general note on this text; a note on this edition; chronology; "Paradise Lost" in 12 books; "Paradise Regained" in 4 books; main narrative 360 pages; selected bibliography)

+++++



Paradise Lost   June 3, 2001
48 out of 56 found this review helpful

"The poem provides an unwitting expose to the absurdity of Christian mythology." With all due respect, I have to question how someone can consider what Milton intended as the "justification of the ways of God to men" an "unwitting exposé." For sure there are several controversies throughout PL-Milton most certainly DOES represent Satan as noble, rationalize the Fall, and present God as less interesting and engaging than the Devil-but he most certainly does NOT do so "unwittingly." Above all Milton was an advocate of freedom-freedom of thought and theology no less than the freedom from censorship he championed in Areopagitica. He was in many ways unorthodox, even denying the Holy Spirit as a person of the Trinity. In Paradise Lost, Milton was not writing a treatise on God's justice and unwittingly undermining his own religion: the issues of Satan's heroic charm and God's apparent coldness are fundamental parts of that treatise. Sin is tempting and attractive, but "the wages of sin is death" (as shown by the "Unholy Trinity" of Satan, Sin, and Death, by which point in the narrative the heroic appeal of Satan the reader may have felt at the beginning of the poem starts to fade). And the cold, often unappealing reason and justice of God are hard to come to terms with-indeed, impossible to come to terms with, without the redemption of Christ. Milton hardly tries to "negate his own words with addendums and disclaimers." Show me one such addendum or disclaimer that isn't part of his intended theodicy. In my opinion, Milton's epic is one of the most cogent examples of Christian apologetics ever. Did you miss the line that "with reiterated crimes [Satan] heaps on himself damnation, while he sought evil to others, and enrag'd might see how all his malice serv'd but to bring forth infinite goodness, grace and mercy, but on himself treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd." Also, I suggest reconsidering the significance of his statement that "Virtue is but choosing"-a brief statement which alone can "justify the ways of God to men," even without the hopeful ending and the redemptive fulfillment in Paradise Regained. Virtue, defined here as the choice to serve God, would not be possible had not man and woman been given free will; and maybe, just maybe, the horror of hell and Satan, the woes of man (and even the death of Christ) were worth the price of making possible the concept of love.

For all that, I do agree that "Paradise Lost features some of the most wonderful passages written in the English language." But I can see how you might think Milton was writing an exposé, intentional or not, if you only read (or only paid attention to?) those first hundred pages about the rebellious angels. (If you ask me, though, the description of Eden, the ironic pursuits of the demons and the perverted parallels of Hell to Heaven, and all of Book IX are the highlights). However, debate is good. I'm sure we both agree with Milton that the freedom to express one's beliefs is of paramount importance. That said, I believe that PL is indeed an exposé, in part at least-not of Christianity, but of the irony and vanity of evil. His arguments for the justice of God seem valid to me, and (is it just me?) his description of Satan as a hero, of Satan's self-righteous volunteering to leave hell, and of the horrible perversion of the" Unholy Trinity", serve not to justify Satan and thereby justify rebellion, but instead, to expose evil for what it is-tempting, but horrific. The most I personally can feel for Satan is pity, and by the end of Paradise Lost, that pity has turned almost entirely to enmity. As a whole, although Paradise Lost certainly raises some debatable issues, it accomplishes what Milton set out to do-justify the ways of God to men.