Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost by John Milton is an epic poem that is divided into books of which the first two detail the aftermath of Satan’s failed revolt against Heaven and his new plan for revenge. At the beginning, the poem is set up similarly to other epic poems such as The Odyssey or The Aeneid with the asking of guidance from a muse, the presentation of warriors as being the main protagonists (Satan), and war being glorified as rigeous or the “right thing” to do.
Furthermore, Paradise Lost debates the existence of free will vs predetermination and challenges the Christian narrative of Satan being evil and Heaven being good. The first two books are from Satan’s perspective (prompting the reader to sympathize with him) and while no explicit reason is stated for why he rebelled against Heaven, we can infer from the text it is because he felt confined by God’s omnipotence as referenced in lane 49 “Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms…” and line 124 “…holds the tyranny of Heaven.” Satan wants free will and is determined to get it no matter the cost, something many people can relate to.
It is also clear that Satan is meant to be the hero of the story for the first two books while Heaven is the villain. He is framed as being a powerful warrior picking himself up by his bootstraps after a nasty defeat and refusing to give up. This makes him fit the Spiderman requirements for being a superhero by being strong, disciplined and “Above all, no matter how many times you get hit, can you get back up?” as laid out in the 2018 film Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. These are also qualities that we as humans generally admire in each other; perseverance and following your dreams are the ideals that comprise the American Dream and that most people highly value.
Milton also tried to modernize the art of epic poetry by writing in blank verse and to make his poem seem more important than others that came before it by including main characters from previous epics as minor characters or just mentioning them in Paradise Lost. Traditionally, Greek and Latin poems were composed in dactylic hexameter and Old northern European poems in alliterative verse, but Milton deviated from the old ways and used blank verse instead. It is said that Milton despised rhyming poetry which is why he chose blank verse instead. His inclusion of Gods from cultures around the globe as Satan’s demon generals is meant to both establish Christianity as the one “true” religion and make his work seem larger scale and more important than those that came before it. He includes Egyptian gods, Greek/Roman gods, Palestinian gods, Lebonese gods, etc. By including all of these gods as minor characters within his larger narrative, Milton increases both the geographical reach of his story and the importance of it making it worldwide as opposed to the size of a sea (The Odyssey).
