Paradise Lost

“Paradise Lost” is Christian epic poem written by John Milton in the 17th Century. It retells the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, exploring profound theological themes with rich poetic language and grandeur befitting an epic narrative. It feels in details of the fall not given in the Bible and therefore is a fictional story. However, it is faithful to the overall theme of the Genesis account.

“Paradise Lost” can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers of pride and rebellion against established authority, Satan’s pride and his rebellion against God. The importance of hierarchy, with God as the ultimate authority, is presented as the natural order of things ordained by God. Satan’s battle against God’s angels in heaven is presented with Satan being overcome and cast into Hell after the Son of God becomes involved and overwhelmingly defeats him and his fallen angels. A description of Hell is given and Satan is shown as temporally regretting his decision to rebel before his pride overcomes him and he decides to tempt God’s new creation away from Him as the way to get back at God.

After being deceived by Satan, the consequences of Adam and Eve’s fall are presented. Adam, in despair over his sin, initially considers suicide to limit the continuance of sin in him and his children. But God gives him a promise of a seed that will come to redeem humanity and the book ends with Adam and Eve trusting this promise as they are being cast out of the Garden of Eden.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this classic which I put off for years due to it being written as an epic poem which is a little hard to read. It is written in blank verse, meaning like poetry but with no rhyme. However, I found I was able to follow the story well and the poetic language was beautiful. The version of the book I read also had a short introduction to what was happening in each chapter which was helpful. Though not inspired, it is generally faithful to the Bible account, and is a book from which every Christian would receive a blessing.