Paradise Lost, By John Milton, published in 1667

  It is at it is, an arduous endeavor to decode these lines, but don’t be befuddled by the complexity of it and disregard it so quickly, for in it there are wonders for those patient enough to carve the stone in which they were written and so extract its golden treasures. If we consider the historical context for a moment, 1666 an ominous year indeed, the Great Fire of London occurred, burning 87 medieval parish churches and the old Saint Paul´s Cathedral along with 13,200 houses. 7 out of 8 people lost their houses to the fire. Also and more important Milton was blind at the time.

       "OF Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit
       Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
       Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
       With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
       Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat."

  One greater Man. The Messiah, or the "second Adam," Jesus. See Romans 5:19: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous".

  This is an epic poem that retells the biblical story of genesis.
  It is considered a very difficult book to read chiefly because of its language. Milton’s style is what is called Latinate, meaning that rather than using common English sentence structure he uses the more elaborate structures taken from Latin, in English the sentences use the pattern of subject, object, verb, but Milton was fond of inversion, he would begin sentences with the verb, the object of the verb or even a prepositional phrase. This could make an already massive piece of work very time-consuming, the poem is written in blank verse or unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

  Milton was also a very learned man, and its obscure references are a challenge to the modern readers, educated or not, he alludes to other works of literature that were probably more familiar to the 17th-century reader. It is also much easy to understand the poem if one is familiar with the King James Version of the bible or at least the three first chapter of the genesis. 

  Very formal, filled with rhetorical speeches, invocations, complex similes, and a long list of names, places, and armies.

  He considers his poem to be the greatest ever written, he states in the book, that it represents “things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme” this may not be a very humble point of view but most critics and readers agree with him.

  The theme of the poem is grand indeed, the origin of evil itself; hence, the consideration of “Epic Poem”, because it has meaning to all men in all times and it matches in grandeur its subject. Milton believed evil is embedded in man nature as a result of the original sin in the Garden of Eden and the sins of their descendants.

  At beginning he invokes Urania, a Greek muse, to guide and give him inspiration, and also the spirit he says, which refers to the Holy Spirit,

       “What in me is dark
       Illumin, what is low raise and support;
       That to the highth of this great Argument
       I may assert Eternal Providence,
       And justifie the wayes of God to men.”

  This is also a theme throughout the book he refers constantly to Greek mythology, and the bible intertwined.

  His portrait of Satan is intriguing and sometimes sympathetic, Adam and Eve are also given more depth, they are allowed to grow, learn and become transformed by their experiences.

  The book covers the rebellion of the angels and the war in heaven. 
  It talks about the angel Uriel, how he showed the devil the way out of the gates of Hell and where in Paradise was the Garden of Eden. 
  Also tells the story of the creation of Earth and how Satan attempted to escape Hell but concluded that is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven, and also that Hell is within him, thus, he would divide God's kingdom and possibly rule over half of it.
  Another character is the angel Raphael, he explained the designs of God to Adam and Eve and warned them to be careful of Satan. 
  We all know this part, they ate from the fruit and then God sends one of his chief angels, Micheal, to escort Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Satan then goes back to Hell to proclaim his victory and on the road he meets Sin and Death, and he bargained with them to make them his ambassadors on earth.
  In exile, they suffer, so they ask God for mercy and He tells them that there is hope, their progeny would cleanse humankind from sin and how He will bring so much good out of the evil. They know that love, obedience, and trust in God are most important and that suffering for the truth is the highest form of bravery, they know also that death is actually the gateway to life, and so they have achieved the highest wisdom.
  At the end of Paradise Lost, paradise has been lost, and there is the promise that it will be refound, and in that promise Milton has fulfilled the obligation he has defined for himself at the beginning of the poem, to justify the ways of God to men, if God only punished Adam and Eve it would mean that Satan still won, but He had to bring good out of evil. He gave his angels and men free will, and although "innocence", the state they were in the Garden, is a virtue, sin enabled them to even greater virtues, like tolerance, compassion, and understanding.