Paradise Lost A collaborative project of the epic poem by John Milton Matthew Keating | Justin Yi | Nathan Kim | Tristan Gantz

Synopsis The poem (concatenated as a 10 book series) is an extended version of the first few pages of the Book of Genesis (Bible and Torah) The story begins with the battle between God and the rebel Angels, and was led by archangel Lucifer, later known as Satan. God wins and banishes Lucifer to hell, where he and the other evil angels live. God creates a new world and a new creature modeled after him. The creatures, humans, were to be tested for their righteousness, so that he will never have rebellious angels again. The first human, Adam, and his partner Eve live in a paradise created by God. (Eden) Satan finds their planet and goes to Eden to corrupt mankind. This was Satan trying to lead a more subtle rebellion. Satan convinces Eve to eat from a forbidden tree, which gave humans the ability to tell right from wrong. Eve also persuades Adam to eat it as well. When God discovers their sin, he punishes them by making woman suffer labor pains and banishing them from Paradise. In the end of the story, Adam, delivers a long speech regarding his great feeling of guilt and his sorrow for what suffering he has given to humanity for eternity.

Characters Two main characters are Adam (First Man) and Satan (Lucifer) Adam: Satan: He was the central character in the first half of the story. He was a high ranking angel who become jealous of Jesus and led a rebellion against god’s kingdom. He is thrown into Hell and he runs it as his kingdom. He eternally rebels against god by trying to corrupt mankind. Throughout most of the story Satan is seen as more of a hero, more than Milton intended. Towards the end he is degraded into the more “typical“ villain. Adam was the first man ever, created perfect but given free will. His love for Eve surpassed his obedience to God and so he ate Satan’s apple. Because he ate the apple, he was giving the ability to tell right from wrong. Adam was extremely guilty of his decision, realizing the future implications of his actions. He is kicked out of Paradise and eventually procreates with Eve.

History of the Poem John Milton, a poet and political activist, wrote Paradise Lost in the late 1650’s. He was put in jail for writing about Puritanism. Milton had Puritanical work in critical pamphlets on the Anglican Church and Paradise Lost. The narrative poem involves an anti- hero, warfare, and the supernatural. The form of the poem is iambic pentameter, which has a lines with five long, syllables followed by short, stressed lines.