IndexLiterature and Linguistics by Arshad MehmoodSin and PunishmentPower and MajestyThe Fall of HumanitySpeakers' Setting and SymbolismCritical AnalysisLiterary Position and ScholarshipMilton's Imagination and Love of BeautyThe Great style of MiltonEffect of era on poetryParadise Lost is a great literary masterpiece by Milton. It's an epic. It is written in great style. Milton had been meaning to write it for years. In the years of political change he was looking for a suitable topic and for a while he even considered the idea of ​​writing about an Authoritian legend. But he ultimately chose a broad topic to write about the fall of Adam and Eve and the fall of the human race because of them. Paradise Lost is a rich blend of knowledge. The Bible, the Talmud, and the church fathers contributed to the story of Paradise Lost. The structure and tragic tone of the poem are reminiscent of Homer and Virgil. But Milton's individuality is reflected in this poem. The poet uses his knowledge and produces a masterpiece. Create a universe that is past, present and future at the same time. Create a world without time and place. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poem opens with an invocation to the heavenly Muse (without the use of classical Greek mythology). The poet seeks the help of the heavenly Muse and describes the topic of the poem: man's first disobedience to God by eating the forbidden fruit and consequently the fall of man. Seek the support of the Muse from Mount Sinai. He invokes the Muse and says that he will write a poem on a very noble subject compared to the ancient poets. Pray for enlightenment of his vision. Its purpose is to justify God's ways to men. Milton's tale begins by asking why Adam and Eve, our parents, fell first from heaven and who reduced them to their revolt. They lived happily in paradise with only one restriction on them. Join our Facebook group: Arshad Mehmood English Literature and Linguistics Library. The hellish serpent was the cause of their downfall. In his envy and revenge he seduced Eve, the mother of mankind. Because of his pride and ambition to rise above God, Satan waged an unholy war in heaven. As a result, God expelled him from heaven. Other rebellious angels also fell into the deepest pits of hell where they would suffer eternal punishment. Although he was immortal, Satan suffered. He was confused and stunned by the fall from the sky. Now he lay stretched out on a fiery lake. Milton gives us the image of hell partly through our eyes and partly through the eyes of Satan. The place is absolutely hopeless. It is filled with visions of pain and despair. The fallen angels are facing torment. In this condition lie the fallen angels, three times further from the light of heaven than the earth is from the extreme poles of the universe. Satan speaks to his closest collaborator Beelzebub. She tells him that she has great contempt for the creator of heaven. He will never seek forgiveness and fight against God. Milton reminds us that his speech is just a loud push to awaken the fallen angels, but in reality he is in the depths of despair. Beelzebub responds to Satan apprehensively. He says that to be weak is to be unhappy. He says that the glory of the fallen angels is diminishing and their happiness is wasting away. I am in total destruction. Literature and Linguistics by Arshad Mehmood Satan responds promptly to make Beelzebub's fear vanish. He says doing anything good is now out of the question for them. Doing evil should only be pleasure and this would nullify God's will.Satan then draws Beelzebub's attention to the fact that the cosmic hail has stopped. They must not miss the opportunity and discuss how to get out of this terrible calamity. Milton then describes Satan's enormous size. He compares Satan to Titans like Briareos and giants like Typhon. Even Satan is compared to the sea beast Leviathan. God leaves Satan to follow his "dark designs". So that he can bring damnation upon himself and see that evil always leads to infinite misfortune. The land is described as images of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. But Satan, moving from the lake to the earth, exchanges only liquid fire for solid fire. Beelzebub also follows Satan in going out. Then, Satan makes his famous first speech. He is in shock but accepts the conditions of hell. Finding himself in utter misery, he says that "the mind is its own place, in itself it can make hell a paradise and hell heaven." This is a powerful statement. This speech of Satan is the most important part of the epic. Satan motivates the fallen angel with his encouraging speech. He says "Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven." Beelzebub supports Satan and the rebel angels regain their power. In the next lines, Satan's shield and spear are described, as well as the great multitude of fallen angels. Satan's shield is compared to the size of the moon when viewed through a telescope. And the fallen angels are like autumn leaves fallen on the riverbank. Then Satan addresses the fallen angels for the second time. He calls them princes, warriors, potentates, flowers of heaven and empowers them. He gives them the ultimatum to rise or fall forever. Followers jump up like men caught sleeping on duty. They are awake and are in a hovering multitude. They rise up like locusts. Now the commanders of the various regiments come forward. They are powerful angels who once held princely dignities in heaven. Then Milton gives us a catalog of fallen angels. They include the false gods against whom Jehovah of the Old Testament protects his chosen people. The first is Moloch, the destructive sun god. Then Chemosh, Baalim, Ashtarohah, Thammuz, Dagon etc. These false gods and their destructive effect on humanity are clarified in detail. Next the dejected state of the fallen angels is described. They are in bad condition. Their looks are dejected and wet. But they have a hint of joy in them. A new plan of action is devised and Satan somehow manages to lift their spirits. Then Satan and the fallen angels gather together as an army. The flags rise and show their shields. Music is played and there is an impressive array of forces. They get together and organize themselves. Then Satan turns to the angel again. Try to turn to the angels. His first three attempts are stopped by tears of frustration and despair, but he finally gathers courage and gives his speech. This third speech is also full of zeal and enthusiasm. He decides to continue the war against God and His creatures. The fallen angels respond by swinging their swords, collapsing shields, and shouting in anger at God. Then a band of angels rushes at Mammon's command to the nearby hill and digs up the gold. They build a magnificent building and call it "Pandemonium". Then in the next lines more details will be given about Mammon. In the end, all the fallen angels, except the leaders, are reduced to flies. Paradise Lost is written in grand style. It is written in blank verse. It has an overall non-rhyming structure. The poem is composed of iambic pentameters. Each line has five long syllables. Milton uses epic similes. The use of alliteration also produces musical effects. His similarities go far beyond the limits of comparison and expand to paint complete pictures. They comeuse many simple and Homeric similes. The nature of Milton's blank verse in "Paradise Lost" is the unrhymed meter of five stresses and ten syllables. He tightened and strengthened the plot of the blank verse. He introduced a variety of blank verse so that it is never monotonous. The epic contains verse-like paragraphs that overflow with ideas. Milton acquired perfect mastery of blank verse without diminishing dignity and greatness. Sin and punishment The main underlying theme of the epic is sin and its punishment. The fallen angels along with Satan are burning in the miseries of hell because of their sin. They showed themselves proud before God. They disobeyed their creator and as a result received the punishment of remaining in hellfire forever. They are stunned and immersed in the deepest despair. They suffer from their own pain and follow the cursed Satan. So sin and its consequences in the form of divine wrath and punishment are shown in Paradise Lost. Power and Majesty The second theme of Paradise Lost is power and majesty. There is a display of power throughout the poem. We see that the power of the Muse is called out early in the poem. Then there is the power of Almighty God and we see its effects on the rebellious angels. After that, Satan's power and willpower are greater than those of other angels. Next, several rebel angels and their descriptions are shown along with their evil power and the destruction they caused in the world. So all these parts of the poem give an overall theme of power and superiority to the poem. The Fall of Humanity The overarching theme of the epic is the fall of humanity. How humanity is misled by evil spirits and trapped in sin due to Satan's dark motives. The poem has as its theme how humanity strays from the path of its creator God and ends up in the net set by Satan and his companions. The mission of the fallen angels is to drag humanity with them to hell. They are envious of man's rise and want to take revenge on him, that's why they use all possible ways to lead them away from the path designed by God. Setting and symbolism of the speakerThe speaker is the poet himself. At the opening he invokes the celestial Muse and seeks help. He says he is raising his voice on a very important topic. So the setting is hell and the poet describes the angels who have fallen into hell after being abandoned by God and thrown into the miseries of hell. This is the setting for the rest of the poem. The images are used to give us a picture of the conditions of hell. All the fallen angels are scattered on different sides and are excited by Satan's words. Satan makes three speeches and the revolt in hell begins. He raises an army against God. This army is then organized and we get a complete picture of hell. Vast imagery, similes and metaphors are used to give a clear picture of hell. Critical Analysis Literary Position and Scholarship Shakespeare and Milton are two English poets who stand above the rest of the poets of their era. Shakespeare was dramatist and poet of universal humanity. And Milton was an epic poet and a poet of Puritan England. So this epic is unique and gives us an epitome of Milton's Nobel style. As we progress we become very impressed with Milton's erudition and Paradise Lost is a masterpiece. He knew the culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Combine this knowledge with learning the Bible. This gives us a beautiful classic epic. Milton's Imagination and Love of Beauty Milton's poetry revealed his imaginative quality and ranges equally well from heaven and hell. His imagination can create invisible ideas and materialize visible ideas..