This is an epic that follows Satan, God, Jesus, Adam and Eve after Satan's banishment into the underworld because he didn't bow down to God's new creation, mankind. After his banishment from heaven he and his rebel angels made the capital of Hell, Pandemonium. His goal is to corrupt Earth and mankind to get back at God, who replaced him as the 'favorite'. Meanwhile in the Garden of Eden God allows Adam and Eve to do whatever they want except to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Satan tricks angel Raphael to find Eden, and then sneaks in as a serpent. He then tempts Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam soon finds out and also eats so that they'll go down together. They confess to God who casts them to Earth. This book was long a read and quite boring, but I like how they humanized Satan. It made his character much more interesting, and I like how Adam also ate the apple fully knowing the consequences of his actions. @Subsub of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library

"Malt does more than Milton can,
To justify God's ways to man."
-- A.E.Housman, "A Shropshire Lad"

Such an incredible epic poem with beautiful and entertaining somewhat contradictory lyrical language. I used to think this was a lot longer than it actually is but it is actually very manageable to read. This is definitely a must-read for any literature lover.

Milton best describes what Paradise Lost is in book 1 when he summons the muse. Paradise Lost is Milton's attempt to "justify the ways of God to men." The story opens with Satan and his host in hell after falling from grace, result of a failed rebellion in heaven. After much debating, Satan makes his way through Chaos to Eden, Paradise. There he eventually tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, which leads to man's downfall. The story can't be summarized with those words alone though. Along the way we are told of the primeval war in heaven between God and Lucifer, we learn how and why the world and man were created; the damnation of man, and his redemption. Philip Pullman does a good job of also providing an introduction at the beginning of each book which I found to be helpful while reading the story.

Well, this one is interesting, all right. Yes, it is a poem, but it is written in blank verse, so does not rhyme. I read this for my literature class, and found it easier the more I read. Milton gets some things wrong, notably his portrayal of Eve. From Milton's point of view, the fall was completely Eve's fault, and Adam's actions were almost heroic. Obviously, you don't want to get your doctrine from Paradise Lost, but you can enjoy an epic poem and Milton's fantastical imaginings that fill in some of the blanks from the Bible.

"None ever wished it longer than it is."-Samuel Johnson
"Oh snap!"-Alexander Pope

God and Satan get in a nasty custody battle. As always, it's the kids who suffer most. The theology is unsophisticated, but the language and characterization are magnificent. Read it out loud, and don't bother with the meaning of every word. Most people, indeed most Christians, don't realize the story is not part of the Bible. (Another example is Dante's Inferno. There is no detailed description of Hell in the Bible, or Heaven, either.) Puritans of Milton's era read the Bible with great earnestness, and would have known Paradise Lost was "creative non-fiction".

I once heard someone say something like, ``Mistrust anyone who tells you what something means.'' Or in this case that something does not mean (as in the comment below). That Milton's theology does not have sense is not a trustworthy statement. I have to limit myself to the background of alchemy and the esoteric Judeo-Christian tradition, when I say that armed with a little more reading---there are 1600 years of such primary text, that predates Milton, to choose from---Milton's very readable poem is full of sense. I am not very much interested in the biographical, but a rigorous reading of the whole of Paradise Lost uncovers that Milton was very well-read in the occult---that sense blooms throughout Paradise Lost.

Google `paradise lost facsimile'. There is beautiful pdf of a scanned facsimile edition produced by someone at the University of Toronto I think.

There is something sort of corrupt about modernized texts.

Most of us will probably only want to read the first two parts, which are magnificent.

If you happen to be interested in comparing Milton's epic to the Homer or Virgil's, you should definitely look at John Leonard's MA thesis - he's the current president of the Milton society. It's available online, I found it on Google. It's all about how Milton outdoes the heroism of the Greek and Roman epics by making the Son's actions even more incredible, although many later readers found these passages farcical (eg. Ajax throws a rock, Christ throws mountains.)

When Lucifer flies through Chaos, the super interesting possibility emerges that in Milton's cosmology it is primal Chaos, and not Hell, that is God's true enemy. Such a reading places Satan as a dupe and a distraction, infinitely less powerful than the two rival powers that war above his head.

All the passages about Eden and temptation are weighed down, I think, by their need to investigate and support Milton's (frankly nonsensical) theology. If you do read to the end, though, there's a great scene between Adam and Eve... still, though, the real genius is in the first two parts, because that's where Milton's imagination was allowed to run riot rather than support and attempt to logically synthesize dogma.