milton's paradise lost part 2
TRANSCRIPT
Paradise Lostby John Milton
PART TWOILLUSTRATIONS
Satan Arousing the Rebel Angels
Satan Sin and Death – Satan comes to the Gates of Hell
Christ Offers to Redeem Man
Satana Spying on Adam and Eve and Raphael Descent to Paradise
Satan Watches the Endearements of Adam and Eve
Raphael Warns Adam and Eve
The Route of the Rebel Angels
The Creation of Eve“And She Shall Be Called Woman”
The Temptation and Fall of Eve
The Judgement of Adam and Eve “So Judged He Man”
Michael Fortels the Crusifixion
The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden
Born 9 December 1608 – Died 8 November 1674
John Milton
Paradise Lost has many of the elements that define epic form: it is a long, narrative poem; it follows the exploits of a hero (or anti-hero); it involves warfare and the supernatural; it begins in the midst of the action, in media res, with earlier
crises in the story brought in later by flashback; and it expresses the ideals and traditions of a people. It has these elements in common with the Aeneid, the Iliad, and the Odyssey
Paradise Lost is an Epic
The poem is in blank verse, that is, non-rhyming verse. In a note he added to the second printing, Milton expresses contempt for rhyming poetry.
Paradise Lost is composed in the verse form of iambic pentameter—the same used by Shakespeare. In this style, a line is composed of five long, unaccented syllables, each followed by a short, accented one.
Poetic Form of the Epic
1st edition published in 1667 in 10 books
Publishing the Book
2nd edition published in 1674 reorganized in 12 books with
some revisions
Milton's epic achieved classical status in the last years of the 17th century, when it was published with explanatory notes
Twenty years later, its position was consolidated by an influential series of articles written by Joseph Addison in the Spectator (a daily paper).
In 1732 Richard Bentley produced a corrected version of the poem claiming that the blind poet had employed an incompetent secretary, argued that the published version contains many errors of wording and logic
Bentley's unjustified and insensitive revisions attracted widespread ridicule
These revisions reflected, however, a feeling that Paradise Lost, though a national classic, was somehow unorthodox in its theological and philosophical outlook.
Pope's poem, and indeed his earlier work Rape of the Lock, show another kind of response to Milton. They are 'mock-epics', and re-deploy elements of Milton's style (and, of course, that of his classical antecedents) to comic ends.
Milton's achievement was felt to be so great that no contemporary poet could rival or match it: writing a serious epic would be out of the question.
Paradise Lost in 18th Century
The End