CULTURE | PARADISE LOST | JOHN MILTON
Better to Reign in Hell, than Serve in Heaven
The beauty and genius of John Milton’s Paradise Lost
As I wrote here poetry -and art by and large- should not copulate with religion (or politics). And yet John Milton did just that with his epic poem Paradise Lost. So? Well, every rule has exceptions, and Paradise Lost is one of them.
Wait. Is it? Paradise Lost is religious in nature, certainly, but does it try to push a religious agenda? Does it try to convert or proselytize anyone? And, since the poem’s MC is Lucifer himself, toward which side such a religious agenda, should one be at play, would gravitate? In this article we will try to address these questions.
Milton’s poem has been a major influence on anyone from the poet Percy Shelley and the poet/painter William Blake to metal bands like the namesake Brits Paradise Lost, and the most well-known Greek band worldwide, the metal band Rotting Christ. They are the only musicians I know who compose songs with ancient Greek lyrics:
