Paradise Lost: Ideal and Tragic EpicIn Paradise Lost, his poetic retelling of the story of Adam and Eve, John Milton sought to create a Christian parallel to the classical works of Homer and Virgil. His achievement remains the undisputed masterpiece of the epic for in English. Francis Blessington's Paradise Lost: Ideal and Tragic Epic clarifies the complexities of the poem and highlights its relevance to our own time as well as Milton's. |
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Page 29
... Satan , his nobility in suffering for his cause , and his base destruction of weaker creatures to achieve his ends . Satan's story is that of cosmic frustration . In the conscious context of Paradise Lost , he is unconditionally corrupt ...
... Satan , his nobility in suffering for his cause , and his base destruction of weaker creatures to achieve his ends . Satan's story is that of cosmic frustration . In the conscious context of Paradise Lost , he is unconditionally corrupt ...
Page 32
... Satan's grandness is ruined by his destructiveness : " To do aught good never will be our task , / But ever to do ill our sole delight ” ( 1.159–60 ) . Milton asks us to measure Satan by the yardstick of morality , not by attitude or ...
... Satan's grandness is ruined by his destructiveness : " To do aught good never will be our task , / But ever to do ill our sole delight ” ( 1.159–60 ) . Milton asks us to measure Satan by the yardstick of morality , not by attitude or ...
Page 37
... Satan and the inner despairing archangel deepens as we move through the poem . Of course , Satan must think he is wronged , just as most criminals feel they are wronged ( some are ) t is the only way to live morally with one's evil ...
... Satan and the inner despairing archangel deepens as we move through the poem . Of course , Satan must think he is wronged , just as most criminals feel they are wronged ( some are ) t is the only way to live morally with one's evil ...
Contents
Historical Context | 1 |
Importance of the Work | 6 |
Critical Reception | 12 |
Copyright | |
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Paradise Lost: Ideal and Tragic Epic Francis C. Blessington,Francis C.. Blessington No preview available - 1988 |
Common terms and phrases
A. E. Housman Abdiel accept action Adam and Eve Adam learns Adam's Addison Aeneid allegorical allusions Aristotle battle Bible biblical Blake Cambridge characters Christian classical epic conception context created creation death divine dramatic Dryden E. M. W. Tillyard earth English epic poem epic poetry Eve's evil Fall fallen Father feel Flow'rs fruit garden genre glory God's guilt happiness hath heaven Hebrew Hell heroic heroism Homer human Iliad inspired John Dryden John Milton King language literary literature live London Lord metaphor Michael Milton criticism Milton's epic Milton's style mind narrator nature Oxford Paradise Lost parallel poet poetic political praise prelapsarian prophecy Prose Raphael reader rebel angels Renaissance rhetoric Satan seed serpent shalt shows Son's speech Spirit story symbolic Tasso thee thir thou thought tion tragedy tree true truth University Press unto verse Virgil vision W. H. Auden woman writing