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Paradise Lost Summary by John Milton

Contents
Introducing the Poem
Critical Summary of Paradise Lost Book 9
Man’s Fall
Mood and Tone
Conclusion
Play Quiz
Introducing the Poem
“NO more of talk where God or Angel Guest
With Man, as with his Friend, familiar us’d
To sit indulgent, and with him partake
Rural repast, permitting him the while
Venial discourse unblam’d: I now must change
Those Notes to Tragic; foul distrust, and breach
Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt,
And disobedience:”

Book 9 of Paradise Lost by Milton deals with the most significant issue of
impending fall of man from Heaven due to his disobedience to God. The poem narrates
the entire incident of Adam and Eve falling into the evil temptation of Satan by
eating the fruit of Forbidden Tree to bring the wrath of God upon them losing
Heaven and all its pleasures.

Critical Summary of Paradise Lost Book 9

Beginning with Milton’s invocation to Urania to guide him in his arduous task of
narrating an important incident accurately, the poet believes that the fall of man
is a greater historic event than Homer’s and Virgil’s historical accounts.

Taking his readers back to Satan from the conversation of Adam and Raphael, Milton
writes about Satan’s attempt to disguise himself as a serpent to tempt Eve. Finding
her alone in the garden of Eden, Satan, disguised as a talking serpent, reaches out
to Eve and tells her about the benefits of eating the fruit of Forbidden Tree.

On hearing that the fruit makes an individual more beautiful and powerful opening
new avenue of knowledge for him, Eve eats the fruit eagerly after showing little
reluctance. She then rushes to Adam to inform him of the benefits of the fruit.

At first, Adam expresses his concern about disobeying God but soon he gives in to
Eve’s desire and eats the fruit. The book reaches its conclusion when both Adam and
Eve open their eyes in a completely different world after eating the fruit of the
Forbidden Tree.

Seeing each other’s naked bodies, they soon realise their fatal mistake of
disobeying God Almighty and feel repentant on their grave sin. The fall of humans
from heavenly Earth reveals that God is omnipotent and omniscient and disobeying
Him never brings good results for humankind because His word is always final.

“Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat:

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost.”

Man’s Fall
The theme of Man’s disobedience and his fall from Heaven is evident in the poem.
The fall of human beings is the most significant incidence occurring in the history
of the world that completely revolutionised the life of mankind forever. Despite
forgiving humanity for his sin, God throws human beings out from Heaven to lead a
life full of trials and tribulations until they meet their God once again on the
Judgement Day.

“O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give eare

To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfet Man’s voice, true in our Fall,
False in our promis’d Rising; since our Eyes
Op’nd we find indeed, and find we know
Both Good and Evil, Good lost, and Evil got,
Bad Fruit of Knowledge, if this be to know,
Which leaves us naked thus, of Honour void,
Of Innocence, of Faith, of Puritie,”

Mood and Tone

The mood of this book is more sombre and serious as compared to the other books
owing to its depiction of the greatest tragedy faced by humankind. The grave mood
and tone of the poem enhance its tragedy and sadness manifold.

Conclusion
Milton’s Paradise Lost Book 9 holds the most significant place among its readers as
it informs them of the gravest tragedy and downfall faced by humankind due to its
greed and foolishness.

“Thus they in mutual accusation spent

The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning,
And of thir vain contest appeer’d no end.”

http://rajyagururavi24.blogspot.com/2015/10/critical-appreciation-of-paradise-
lost.html
Critical Appreciation of Paradise Lost Book IX

Name: Rajyaguru Ravi

Semester : 01
Roll No : 32
Paper No : 1
Enrolment No: PG15101032
Email ID : rajyagururavi24@gmail.com
Year : 2015-17
Submitted To: Department Of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Introduction

John Milton was born on 8 December 1608 and died on 8

November 1674. He was a poet ,prose, polemicist and civil servant. He knows
many language like Latin,French and German etc. His best work is an epic
poem Paradise Lost written in blank verse. Unfortunately, he becomes
blind after the age of 40 but steal he continued writing his works. And
Paradise lost his most precious work, he has written after his world
became black.
Milton began Paradise Lost in 1658 and finished in 1667. He wrote very little of
the poem in his own hand, for he was blind throughout much of the project. Instead,
Milton would dictate the poem to an amanuensis, who would read it back to him so
that he could make necessary revisions. Milton's daughters later described their
father being like a cow ready for milking, pacing about his room until the
amanuensisarrived to "unburden" him of the verse he hadstored in his mind.

Milton claimed to have dreamed much of Paradise Lost through the

nighttime agency of angelic muses. Besides lending itself to mythologization, his
blindness accounts for at least one troubling aspect of the poem: its occasional
inconsistencies of plot. Because he could not read the poem back to himself, Milton
had to rely on his memory of previous events in the narrative, which sometimes
proved faulty. Putting its infrequent (and certainly minor) plot defects aside,
Paradise Lost is nothing short of a poetic masterpiece. Along with Shakespeare's
plays, Milton's Paradise Lost is the most influential poem in English literature as
well as being a basis for or proof text of modern poetic theory.

Now, we start here discussion on Paradise Lost. It is written in

12 volumes .It is one type of biblical story. Here, we only talks about
its ninth volume which main theme is Fall of Man.

Summary

Here Satan who is banished to hell wants to take revenge

against God by banishes his creation, humans who are at the about the
Garden of Eden .So, in this volume Satan goes there in shape of serpent
to tempt human kind. Raphel already warns Adam and Eve about the future.
But, Satan by his words tempts Eve to eat an apple which God denies
to eat. Satan tells Eve that by eating that apple you would become like
god that’s why god denied you to eat . Then he further tells that as a
Serpant he can speak because he ate that apple from knowledge tree. Then
Eve eats an apple and with a fear goes to Adam and tells a story.
Adam knows that Eve has not done the right thing by going against the
god. But as he loves Eve very much, he also eats an apple that if they
die,die together.

Characters

Satan

Satan is the major character of paradise Lost. He is also

known as Lucifer.He was also a part of heaven serving there as an
angel. But he believes that “ Better to reign in Hell than serve in
Heaven”. As he wants to take a rebel against god , he decided to tempt
his beautiful creation Mankind and he does so. Satan is one of God's favorite
angels until his pride gets in the way and he turns away from God. Satan brings
many of heaven's angels with him, however, and reigns as king in hell. He continues
an eternal battle with God and goodness for the souls of human beings. Satan, at
first, is an angel with a single fault, pride, but throughout the story he becomes
physically and morally more and more corrupt.

Adam

First created man, father of all mankind. Adam is created a just and
ordered creature, living in joy, praising God. Lonely, Adam will ask for a
companion and will thereafter feel deep and uncontrollable, though ordered, love
for her, named Eve. This love will ultimately get Adam in trouble, as he decides to
disobey God rather than leave her. Adam has free will and, by the end of the poem,
also has the knowledge of good and evil.

He alone on earth so demands one partner to give him a company . God

creates woman to fulfill his demand. Adam loves Eve very much. Here, Adam
is heroic figure but also as a sinner than Eve, as he is aware that
what he is doing is wrong.

Eve

First created woman, mother of all mankind. Eve is rather a fickle and vain woman,
easily flattered by Adam and Satan. Her weakness becomes her downfall, as her
vanity drives her to disobey God. She loves Adam as well, though the implication is
that she loves herself much more.She is extremely beautiful creation of God.
She is tempted by Satan to eat an apple which god has denied. Then,
she does that sin and Adam also follows her as they both loved each
other.

God

God is the creator of universe to whom Satan tries to rebel. God is

the creator of Mankind. God firstcreat Adam and Eve. They are living
their life in Garden of Eve so God has warned them don’t eat an apple
from one tree.But Adam and Eve eat that so god become angry and gives
them punishments.

The Absolute, ruler of heaven, creator of earth and all of creation. God is all
seeing, though he seems to pay less attention to things further away from his
light. He is surrounded by angels who praise him and whom he loves but, when Satan
falls and brings many of heaven's population with him, he decides to create a new
creature, human, and to create for him a beautiful universe in the hopes that
someday humans will join him in heaven. God has a sense of humor, and laughs at the
follies of Satan and seems to be a firm and just ruler.

Major themes in “Paradise Lost”

Ø His Grand style

Ø In Modern times Milton’s style first received general criticism from T.S Eliot
Ø Eliot also points out about Milton’s style that

Ø Milton’s style in writing the Paradise Lost has beencalled a ‘grand style’, which
means it is anelevated, serious, highly crafted, and different fromcommon speech.
It is in fact so unfamiliar tocommon language, even the usual literary language,
that Dr. Johnson accused Milton of‘pedantry’. The charge is basically based on
hiswriting that was heavily Latinated. Indeed manycritics have complained that
Milton spoilt theEnglish language. But in other ways he hascontributed to the
development of the Englishlanguage as a literary language. Milton’s ‘grand’,style
can be discussed under four or five heads:rhythm and music, word game and figures
ofspeech, diction and decorum, syntax, and theremoteness and sublimit of language
and theme.The meter or rhythm of Milton’s epic poem isusually called the blank
verse, but it is not the common blank verse (lines in iambic pentameterwithout
rhyme); Milton adapted it to his ownconvenience and purpose.

Ø The lines in ParadiseLost do contain ten syllables usually, but the linescontain
any number of stresses from three to eight.So, it would not be appropriate to say
that this isdone by using traditional techniques of variation.Furthermore, the
stresses differ in degree andposition. The pause or caesura is another evenmore
important feature of rhythm in Milton. Thepause falls at different places of the
lines, and theweight of different pauses is also different; there are light or
shorter pauses and heavy or longerpauses give different effects to the narrative.

Ø Milton’s diction is heavily Latin. Even when heuses English words, they have the
Latinconnotations beneath. The words are someticulously chosen that many critics
have blamedhis diction as too labored. Milton somehow‘invented English that is
extremely unfamiliar andpedantic. He uses words in such ways that thereare always
both literal and symbolic meanings,with both English denotations and
Latinconnotations. His descriptions are florid and highlypicturesque. He uses
images to reinforce thetheme. He shifts tone along with the change ofdescription
and setting. That usually helps himshift the emotional intensity, or avoid
monotony.

“What he could do well he did better than anyone else has ever done, his poetry
could only be an influence for the worse upon any poet”

Allusion and vocabulary

The first aspect of the grand style that most readers notice is the number of
allusion and references like
Ø “Oreb”
Ø “The Shepherd”
Ø “Chosen seed”
Ø “Siloa’s Brook”
To wind up …..

So also Milton’s almighty considerate purely as a literary character, is

unfortunately tinged with the narrow and literal theology of the time .in this
magnificent heroism Milton has unconsciously immortalized the puritan spirit.
Paradise Lost the least said the better but to the splendor of the puritan dreams
and glorious melody of it ‘s expression no words can do justice .

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/paradise-lost/summary-and-analysis/book-ix

Summary and Analysis Book IX

Summary

In the prologue to Book IX, Milton says that his work must now take a tragic tone
and that this Christian epic, though different, is nonetheless more heroic than
earlier epics like the Iliad and the Aeneid. Again, he calls on Urania as the muse
of Christian inspiration to help him complete his work and show the true heroism
that lies in the Christian idea of sacrifice. Then Milton returns to his story.

Satan returns to Eden eight days after being forced out by Gabriel. He has studied
all the animals and has decided to approach Eve in the form of a serpent which he
considers to be the "subtlest Beast of all the Field" (86).

The following morning, Adam and Eve prepare for their daily work tending the
Garden. Because the Garden's growth seems to surpass their labors, Eve suggests
that on this day they work apart. She thinks they can accomplish more working
individually. Adam argues the point with Eve, saying that Raphael has warned them
of dangers and that she is more vulnerable by herself. He and she continue this
argument — she proposing that they work alone; he proposing that they work together
— until Adam finally relents; however, he makes Eve promise to return to their
bower soon, but Milton comments that she will never return to Adam in the way that
she was that morning.

Satan in the form of the serpent is surprised and excited to find Eve alone tending
flowers. He watches her and for a few moments becomes enraptured and forgets his
evil nature. Then he remembers what his purpose is — to destroy God's creation. The
serpent approaches Eve upright upon its tail. His various acts fail to attract
Eve's attention because she is used to dealing with animals. However, when the
serpent speaks, complimenting Eve on her beauty, playing on both her vanity and
curiosity, Eve is suddenly interested. She is especially curious about how the
serpent learned to speak. Satan replies through the serpent that he learned speech
by eating the fruit of a particular tree in the Garden. He acquired speech and the
ability to reason and has, therefore, sought Eve out to worship as the most
beautiful of God's creations.
When Eve inquires which tree gave the serpent his abilities, he takes her to the
Tree of Knowledge. Eve tells the serpent that God has forbidden Man to eat from
that tree, and she chooses to obey God. Satan, using the same sophistic reasoning
he has used throughout the story, tells Eve that God has tricked her and Adam. He
has eaten of the tree and is not dead; neither will they die. Instead the tree will
give them knowledge, which will make them like God. This fact makes God envious and
has caused him to demand that Adam and Eve not eat of the tree. Eve is taken in by
the words of the serpent, and after some rationalizing, she convinces herself that
she should eat the fruit. And she does.

Now Eve suddenly worships the Tree of Knowledge as a god, even as all nature weeps
for her fall. Her thoughts turn to Adam, and she decides that he must eat the fruit
also. She cannot bear the idea that she might die and Adam would be given another
wife. When Eve approaches Adam, he drops the wreath of flowers that he was weaving
for her hair. Eve quickly tells him what she has done, and Adam just as quickly
makes his own decision. He allows his physical love and passion for Eve to outweigh
his reason. He knowingly eats the fruit and is immediately affected with carnal
desire for Eve. The two humans exit to engage in "amorous play" (1045). The
description here is not of love but lust.

After sex, Adam and Eve fall into a deep sleep. They awake and are overcome with
shame and guilty knowledge. They both are weeping, and they launch into arguments
with each other. Adam says Eve is at fault; she replies in kind. Milton describes
them as spending "fruitless hours" (1188) in bitter accusation. Each is willing to
blame the other, but neither is willing to accept responsibility. Paradise is gone
and in its place guilt, blame, and shame. Milton says that both of them have given
way to "Appetite" (1129), and reason is lost. Paradise has ended; the earth has
begun.

Analysis

Milton's fourth invocation differs from earlier ones in that he does not call on
Urania, except obliquely, and he does not mention his blindness. Rather he offers
an explanation for his epic and says that the tone must now become "Tragic" (6).
The word "tragic" had two connotations for Milton. First, it carried the simple
moral meaning of something terribly bad or unfortunate. Christians since the Middle
Ages had always considered the falls of Lucifer and Adam tragic. But "tragic' also
refers to the dramatic concept of tragedy as first defined by Aristotle and
developed through the centuries to its high achievement in Elizabethan England.
Milton knew the nature of dramatic tragedy from his study of the Greeks (he
patterned Samson Agonistes on Greek tragedy) as well as from reading Shakespeare
and other Elizabethan dramatists (he wrote an essay On Shakespeare for the Second
Folio).

By the seventeenth century, tragedies had assumed a basic format. The play would
have a noble hero who had a tragic flaw in either personality or actions. The
fortunes of the hero would reverse during the play from good to bad with the hero
recognizing his own responsibility for these consequences that resulted from his
flaw. The end of the play would result in the death of the hero. Throughout the
play, fate would, in one form or another, control the action, and, at the end, the
audience would experience a catharsis or purging of emotions, resulting from their
empathy with the hero. They should feel pity for the hero and fear for themselves.

To see that Paradise Lost has an underlying tragic structure is not difficult. Adam
is a noble character. He has a flaw in his passion for Eve that overrides his
reason. He makes the mistake of eating the fruit. He recognizes, eventually, his
responsibility for his actions. Death, though not occurring in the epic, is the
main result of Adam's action. Fate (God) knows what will happen throughout the
poem. And finally, Milton wanted his audience to experience pity for Adam and all
mankind but fear for the consequences of their own sinful lives. So when Milton
speaks of changing his "Notes to Tragic" (6), he means more than a passing remark.

Yet for all of these connections to tragedy, Paradise Lost is not a tragedy; it is
a Christian epic with a tragic core. Adam is a noble hero, but as Milton notes in
this prologue, he is not a hero like Achilles, Aeneas, or Odysseus. He is, in
Milton's words, a hero of "Patience and Heroic Martyrdom" (33). Ultimately too,
Adam is regenerated and reconciled rather than just killed. Paradise Lost will end
on a hopeful — even joyful — note, since through Adam's fall, salvation and eternal
life will come to Man through God's mercy and grace. This felix culpa or "happy
fault" is not the stuff of tragedy.

Moreover, even as an epic, Milton says that he was attempting something different
in Paradise Lost. He did not want to glorify warfare as in earlier epics like the
Iliad. Instead, in his only description of warfare (Book VI), he creates parody
rather than magnificence. Rather Milton's goal was to write a Christian epic,
specifically a Protestant Christian epic with a new sort of hero, one who wins
ultimately through patience and suffering. At the time Milton wrote this particular
invocation, he still prayed to the Muse (Urania, Christian inspiration) to help him
complete his work and to let it gain acceptance in a time when such a work's fate
was unclear.

After the invocation, Milton begins this book with Satan who has been absent for
the three books in which Adam and Raphael talked. Satan has degenerated as a
character. In his speech in Eden, he is unable to make his thoughts logical. He
thinks Earth may be more beautiful than Heaven since God created it after Heaven.
He thinks he might be happy on Earth but then argues that he could not be happy in
Heaven. He fusses about Man being tended by angels. Satan's ability to think, which
seemed potent in Book I, now appears weak and confused. An even greater indication
of Satan's character degeneration is that he is now self-delusional. In the early
books, he lied but only to get others to do his bidding. In this speech, he lies to
himself. He questions whether God actually created the angels, he sees Man as God's
revenge on him, he says he took half of all the angels out of Heaven. Satan who
seemed somewhat heroic in his rebellion now seems to be a dangerous con man who has
come to believe his own lies. In the early books, the reader can at least see
reasoning as well as envy behind Satan's actions, but, here in Book IX, Satan has
become the delusional psychopath who believes his own lies. The concept of heroism
cannot be stretched to include Satan's attitude and thinking at this point in the
epic.

Milton reinforces Satan's degeneration with visual images. Satan creeps along the
ground of Eden in a low-lying mist and ultimately takes on the form of the serpent
who crawls along the ground. The shape changes Satan has made in Paradise Lost show
a pattern. From angel to cherub, from cherub to cormorant, then to lion and tiger,
and finally to toad and snake, Satan has progressively made himself more and more
earthbound and lowly. The irony of these shifts in shape is not lost on Satan. As
he searches for a serpent to enter, he complains of the bestial nature of the
animal that he must "incarnate and imbrute, / That to the highth of deity aspired"
(166-167). That is, as he tries to become like God, he takes on lower and lower
forms.

The next scene of Book IX involves the argument between Adam and Eve over whether
they should work alone or separately. Some commentators have seen Eve's arguments
as a kind of calculated sophistry akin to Satan's that demonstrates Eve's
complicity in her own fall. Her argument, however, is more of innocence. She has
played the proper womanly role during Raphael's visit, and now she simply wants
more freedom and responsibility. Perhaps she wants to show that she can be Adam's
equal. To read Eve as a conniver is to overlook her naiveté and innocent desire to
be more like Adam.

Satan's attitude when he finds Eve alone shows that the two humans made the wrong
decision in separating. When Satan sees Eve by herself, he is pleased that she is
not with Adam, who would have been a "Foe not informidable" (486). Eve's only real
defense against Satan seems to be her basic beauty and goodness. Satan is so
astounded when he first sees her that for a brief period he forgets his purpose and
stands "Stupidly good" (465). The scene makes two points: First, the goodness
expressed just by Eve's physical person is overwhelming. And second, Satan has lost
the capacity for real goodness. He may be momentarily struck dumb and be "stupidly
good," but he quickly recovers and is not in any way deflected from his evil
purpose.

Satan's temptation of Eve is a cunning masterpiece. As a prelapsarian serpent, he

is able to approach her standing upright upon his tail, a "Circular base of rising
folds, that tow'r'd / Fold above fold, a surging maze" (498-99). The images of
circuitous, folding mazes occur intermittently throughout Paradise Lost and reach
their culmination in this image of the serpent rising to tempt Eve with his body a
coiling labyrinth. Visually, Eve is pure, simple innocence; the serpent,
unfathomable, complex evil. Eve will soon be lost in his labyrinthine argument and
plot.

Satan as serpent first uses his physical beauty and speech to impress Eve, who
finds him beautiful. A number of writers have found sexual undertones in the
description of the serpent: "pleasing was his shape, / And lovely" (503-04). An old
Jewish tradition even had it that Eve made love with the serpent. Milton's subtle
sexualizing of the serpent followed this tradition and adds another element to
Eve's fall. William Blake, in his illustration for this scene, certainly noticed
sexual imagery. At first glance, Eve appears to kiss the serpent, but is, in fact,
taking a bite of a very phallic apple in the serpent's mouth. The fruit hanging
from the Tree of Life in Blake's illustration suggests nothing so much as male
genitalia.

Eve is also taken with the fact that the serpent talks. Further, the snake is not
in the angelic form of the tempter in Eve's dream, so she is not put on guard by
the creature. (Milton has made it clear earlier that Adam and Eve were never
threatened by any animal in Eden.) Satan first flatters Eve. He licks the ground.
He says he worships her beauty. The reader recalls that Eve narcissistically became
enamored of her own image in the water at her creation. She is vain, but she is
also secondary to Adam. Here a talking snake praises her beauty and says he
worships her. She is interested though not enraptured.

But when the serpent takes Eve to the Tree of Knowledge, his arguments come so fast
and so deviously that she cannot follow them. At first, she does what she should.
She tells the serpent that she cannot eat from the tree. He argues that he has
eaten and did not die. Then he adds that God wants her to eat of the tree and,
contradictorily, that he envies what the humans might learn if they did eat. The
arguments come so fast that Eve cannot answer, let alone think through them. Her
innocence in comparison with Satan's cunning overcomes her reason. She is no match
for Satan, and so his sophistic arguments seem reason to her. Unlike Adam, Eve buys
into the arguments without grasping what is really happening. Eve eats the fruit,
and eats, for the first time, gluttonously, letting her appetite take control of
her reason.

After she eats, Eve at first feels elated. She thinks that she has reached a higher
level but shows this ironically by starting to worship the tree. Her thoughts turn
to Adam. Initially, she thinks she might keep this new power for herself and
perhaps become his equal. At this point, Eve is conniving; already the fruit has
changed her innocence. Even her reason for telling Adam shows this fact. If the
fruit indeed leads to death, she does not want to die and leave Adam to another
woman. She selfishly wants him to be in the same condition she is.

Adam's temptation and fall is much less complicated than Eve's. When Adam drops the
flowery chaplet that he has been making for Eve, he symbolically drops all that he
has in Eden. He immediately realizes what Eve has done. Adam makes a conscious
decision to eat the fruit because he cannot give up Eve. He allows his physical
passion for her to outweigh his reason, and so he eats. Adam's decision is willful,
unlike Eve's, which was based on fraudulent argument and weak reason.

After the fall, the two are overcome by lust. Adam says to Eve, "if such pleasure
be / In things to us forbidden, it might be wish'd, / For this one Tree had been
forbidden ten" (1024-26). The language of the entire scene is charged with sexual
imagery and innuendo. Their appetites are in control, and reason is lost. After
their lovemaking, they fall into a troubled sleep — no more innocent dreams. When
they wake, they are cognizant of what they have done, and their arguing is that of
real people. If their argument at the end of Book IX is compared with their
discussion of whether to work alone or together at the beginning, the difference in
Man before and after the fall is clear. The opening discussion is reasoned and
pleasant; the closing, irrational and bitter.

Glossary

harbinger (13) a person or thing that comes before to announce or give an

indication of what follows; herald.

sedulous (27) working hard and steadily; diligent.

Seneschal (38) a steward or major-domo in the household of a medieval noble.

wanton (211) [Now Rare] luxuriant (said of vegetation, etc.).

patriarch (376) the father and ruler of a family or tribe; Adam is identified in
Paradise Lost as the patriarch of all Mankind.

verdant (500) covered with green vegetation.

unctuous (635 ) oily or greasy; made up of or containing fat or oil. Milton uses
the word to describe one of the elements of ignis fatuus or fool's fire, a
phenomenon like St. Elmo's Fire which often led the foolish astray.

dalliance (1016) flirting, toying, or trifling. Milton uses the term as a euphemism
for sex.

umbrage (1087) shade; shadow; foliage, considered as shade-giving.

Paradise lost
1. JOHN MILTON
2. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man the temptation of Adam
and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Milton stated his purpose in Book I is to "justify the ways of God to men".
3. The story of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall is a fundamentally different,
new kind of epic: a domestic one. Adam and Eve are presented first time in
Christian literature as having a full relationship while still being without sin.
They have passions and distinct personalities. Satan, disguised in the form of a
serpent, successfully tempts Eve to eat from the Tree by preying on her vanity and
tricking her with his mesmerizing speech. Adam, learning that Eve has sinned,
commits the same sin on purpose. He declares to Eve that since she was made from
his flesh, they are bound to one another ‒ if she dies, he must also die. In this
manner, Milton portrays Adam not only as a brave figure, but also as a greater
sinner than Eve, who is fully aware that he is doing wrong.
4. After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve have lustful sex. At first, Adam is
convinced that Eve was right in thinking that eating the fruit would be beneficial.
Soon they fall asleep and have terrible nightmares. After they awake, they
experience guilt and shame for the first time. Realizing that they have committed a
terrible act against God, they mutually blame each other. Meanwhile, Satan returns
triumphantly to Hell amidst the applause of his fellow fallen angels. He tells them
about how their scheme. He gives them complete domination over Paradise. As soon as
he finishes his speech, the fallen angels around him become hideous snakes. Satan
himself turned into a snake, deprived of limbs and unable to talk. Thus, they share
the same punishment and shared the same guilt.
5. THE TEMPTATION AND FALL OF EVE
6. Back to the thicket slunk the guilty serpent
7. They heard and from his presence hid themselves among the thickest trees
8. The heavenly bands down from a sky of Jasper lighted now in Paradise
9. Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet.
John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten
books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674,
arranged into twelve books in the method of Virgil's Aeneid with minor
modifications carried throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered
by critics to be Milton's major work. It increased his reputation as one of the
greatest English poets of his time.
10. John Milton (1608–1674) Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books. By John
Milton. London: Printed, and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer
Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and
Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street. 1667 Purchased by
Pierpont Morgan PML 963
11.  John Milton wrote the poem in blank verse Paradise Lost was written on the
biblical theme of the fall of man Narration of the poem unfolds in the poem,
‘Paradise Lost’ Paradise Lost has two narrative arcs, one about Satan (Lucifer)
and the following Adam and Eve
12. Book IX is the longest book in Milton’s Paradise Lost  Book VII is the
shortest book in Milton’s Paradise Lost 10 books were included in the first
edition of the poem ‘Paradise Lost’ 12 books were included in the second edition
of the poem ‘Paradise Lost’
13. The second edition of the poem Paradise Lost was published in 1674
14. BOOK I This gives a brief introduction of the fall of Adam and Eve caused by
the serpent, which was Satan, who led the angels in rebellion against God and was
cast into hell. The scene opens with Satan lying in a confused state in the burning
lake along with Beelzebub who was next in command beside him. Satan exhorts his
fallen legions on the shore where he revives their spirits by his speech. They set
to building a palace, called Pandemonium. There the high ranking angels assemble in
council.
15. BOOK II A debate is held whether or not to attempt recovery of heaven. A third
proposal is preferred, concerning an ancient prophecy of another world which was to
be created, where the devils may seek to enact their revenge. Satan alone
undertakes the voyage to find this world. He encounters Sin and Death, his
offspring, guarding hell's gates. Sin unlocks the gate, and Satan embarks on his
passage across the great gulf of chaos between heaven and hell, till he sights the
new universe floating near the larger globe, which is heaven.
16. BOOK III God sees Satan flying towards this world and foretells the success of
his evil mission to tempt man. God explains his purpose of grace and mercy toward
man, but declares that justice must be met nonetheless. His Son, who sits at his
right hand, freely offers to sacrifice himself for man's salvation, causing the
angels to celebrate in songs of praise. Meanwhile Satan alights upon the outer
shell of the new creation, where he finds an opening to the universe within. He
flies down to the sun, upon which an angel, Uriel, stands guard. Satan disguises
himself as a cherub. He pretends he has come to praise God's new creation, and
thereby tricks the angel into showing him the way to man's home.
17. Landing atop Mt. Niphates, Satan experiences dissillusionment, but soon
proceeds on his evil errand. He easily gains secret entrance to the Garden of
Paradise. He wonders at its beauty, and soon comes upon Adam and Eve. Looking them
at their happy state, he becomes even more envious. He overhears them speak of
God's commandment that they should not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil lest they should pay the penalty of death, and thereby plots to cause
them to transgress. Uriel becomes suspicious, he comes to warn Gabriel and his
angels, who are guarding the gate of Paradise. That evening, two scouts sent by
Gabriel find Satan whispering in the ear of Eve as she sleeps next to her husband.
The scouts arrest and bring Satan to Gabriel who expels him from Eden. BOOK IV
18. BOOK V Next morning, Eve relates to Adam a troublesome dream, and is comforted
by him. God sends the angel Raphael to visit the couple to warn them of their
enemy. Next morning, Eve relates to Adam an upsetting dream, and is comforted by
him. God sends the angel Raphael to visit the couple to warn them of their enemy.
19. Raphael continues to relate how Michael was sent to lead the faithful angels
into battle against Satan (then called Lucifer) and his army. Wounded and in
dissaray, Satan and his powers retreat. During the night they invent weapons
resembling cannons. In the second day's fight, when Michael's angels are confront
with these devilish devices, they become enraged and pull up the very mountains and
hurl them at Satan's army But the war continues into the third day, when God sends
Messiah, his Son, to end the war. Riding forth in his flaming chariot, Messiah
drives the rebels out of heaven and down into hell. BOOK VI
20. Raphael then relates to Adam how God sent his Son to create a new world and new
creatures to fill the place left by the fallen angels. The six days of creation are
described. BOOK VII
21. Adam desiring to extend the pleasurable visit with the angel, relates to
Raphael what he remembers of his own creation, his first impressions of the world
and its creatures, the Garden of Eden, and his first meeting and marriage to Eve.
After repeating his warnings to Adam, the angel departs. BOOK VIII
22. BOOK IX Satan returns to earth, where he chooses the serpent as his best
disguise. Next morning, when Adam and Eve go forth to their gardening tasks, Eve
suggests they go in separate directions. With great reservation, Adam finally
agrees. The serpent finds Eve alone and approaches her. She is surprised to find
the creature can speak, and is soon induced by him to eat the fruit of the
forbidden tree. Adam is horrified when he finds what she has done, but at length
resigns himself to share her fate rather than be left without her, and eats the
fruit also. After eating, they are aroused with lust and lay together, then fall to
restless sleep. They waken to awareness of their nakedness and shame, and cover
themselves with leaves. In their emotional distress, they fall into mutual
accusations and blame.
23. BOOK X The guardian angels return to heaven, sad for man's failure, and the Son
of God descends to earth to judge the sinners. Mercifully, he delays their sentence
of death many days, during which they may work to regain God's favor. Then, in
pity, he clothes them both. At the gates of hell, Sin and Death sense the success
of Satan in this new world. They set out to build a highway over chaos to make
future passage to earth easier. Satan meets them on his return voyage to hell, and
marvels at the great structure. Upon his arrival in Pandemonium, Satan boasts of
his success to the assembly. Instead of applauding him, they can only hiss, for
they and he have all been turned into snakes, their punishment from above. God
instructs his angels what changed conditions must prevail in the world, now in
fallen state, while on earth, Adam bemoans his miserable condition and the fate of
the human race. He harshly rejects Eve's attempt to console him, but she persists
and wins his forgiveness. She proposes they commit suicide, but Adam reminds her of
God's promise that her seed should wreak vengeance upon the serpent. Moreover, they
must seek to make peace with their offended Lord.
24. BOOK XI God sends Michael and his band to drive out he sinning pair from
Paradise, but first to reveal to Adam future events, resulting from his sin. The
angel descends to Eden with the news of their expulsion, causing Eve to withdraw in
tears. Michael leads Adam up a high hill, where he sets before him in visions what
shall happen till the Great Flood.
25. BOOK XII Michael continues in prophecy from the flood by degrees to explain who
the Seed of woman shall be, the Savior which was promised, who shall redeem
mankind. Adam is recomforted by these last revelations and resolves faithful
obedience. He descends the hill with Michael and rejoins Eve, who is wakened from
gentle sleep, reconfirmed in allegiance to her husband. A flaming sword is placed
to bar the gates behind them, as Adam and Eve are sent away from Paradise.