Paradise Lost - 1665

Monrovians - Unite!  Know your history and culture.

Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest poems in the English language, first published in 1667.

The poem concerns the Christian 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. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will  The link above has been edited with more up-to-date language, and so is easier to read than the original.

He summarizes Satan's situation as follows:

So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay,
Chained on the burning lake; nor ever thence
Had risen, or heaved his head, but that the will
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
Left him at large to his own dark designs,
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others, and enraged might see
How all his malice served but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn
On Man by him seduced, but on himself
Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured.

 He also wrote, for example:

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

 While not for everyone, the poem is divided into twelve books.  The first book summarizes the whole poem, while the remainder goes into more detail.  One can therefore obtain the gist of the poem and the poetry by reading the first book.

Satan is the first major character introduced in the poem. Satan is consigned to Hell after a failed rebellion to wrestle control of Heaven from God. Satan's desire to rebel against his creator stems from his unwillingness to accept the fact he is a created being, and that he is not self-sufficient.  This is a result of his extreme Pride. One of the ways he tries to justify his rebellion against God is by claiming that he and the angels are self-created, declaring the angels "self-begot, self-raised", thereby eliminating God’s authority over them as their creator.

Satan is narcissistic, self-pitying, and persuasive although his logic is almost always flawed, disingenuous, misguiding, or all three. Satan's persuasive powers are first evident when he makes arguments to his angel-followers as to why they should try to overthrow God. He argues that they ought to have equal rights to God and that Heaven is an unfair monarchy, stating,

Who can in reason then, or right, assume
Monarchy over such as live by right
His equals, if in power and splendor less,
In freedom equal? or can introduce
Law and edict on us, who without law
Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
And look for adoration, to the abuse
Of those imperial titles, which assert
Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.

 The poem thus grapples with the tension between freedom and obedience to our Creator - the tension between unfettered license and the constraints that a free people voluntarily place upon themselves.  A subject we still grapple with today.