John Milton wrote the epic poem Paradise Lost in blank verse between 1658-1667. It was published in 1667 in ten books, then revised and reorganized into twelve books for the 1674 edition. Paradise Lost tells the biblical story of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, drawing from classical epic conventions like being written in an elevated style and including supernatural elements. It achieved widespread acclaim in its time and influenced many later Augustan poets despite some critics arguing its theological views were unconventional.

9. “And She Shall Be Called Woman”

11. “So Judged He Man”

14. Born 9 December 1608 – Died 8 November 1674
John Milton

15. 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

16.  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.

17. 1st edition published in 1667 in 10 books
2nd edition published in 1674
reorganized in 12 books with some
revisions

18.  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.

19. The End