• An invocation of the muse at the beginning of an epic is conventional, so Milton is acknowledging his awareness of Homer, Virgil, and later poets, and signaling that he has mastered their format and wants to be part of their tradition.
original sin, causing the lose of the paradise. • Jesus comes to restore humankind to its former position of purity.
The imitation of epic style
• Milton invokes his muse, which is actually the Holy Spirit rather than one of the nine muses.
• Lucifer Means "Light-bringer"
New Testament References to Satan
• Falling From Heaven
威廉·布雷克为《失乐园》绘制的插图
Information about Paradise Lost
• Milton based on Paradise lost on the Book of Genesis
• and imitated the epics of Homer and Virgil
Literary source from Bible
Lost: driven out the Eden of Garden • What does it mean to be fallen:
Pain, sin, sex/love,
• Milton asserts that this original sin brought death to human beings for the first time, causing us to lose our home in paradise until Jesus comes to restore humankind to its former position of purity.
• while Homer and Virgil only chronicled the journey of heroic men, like Achilles or Aeneas,Байду номын сангаасMilton chronicles the tragic journey of all men—the result of humankind’s disobedience.
Fall of Adam and Eve: part of “Last Judgment” by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. Adam and Eve are full of shame and fear. The cherub in red points a sword to send Adam and Eve out of Eden.
• But by identifying his muse as the divine spirit that inspired the Bible and created the world, he shows that his ambitions go far beyond joining the group of Homer and Virgil.
• The temptation by Satan • humankind’s first act of disobedience
toward God • the consequences that followed from • disobedience, the fall of man, or the
A puritan writer with revolution enthusiasm
(1608–1674)
Paradise or the Garden of Eden
Beautiful landscape Fertility of land Eternal spring
Paradise : associated with childhood, Eden, innocence
• Homer and Virgil describe great wars between men, but Milton tells the story of the battle between God and Satan, good and evil.
Who is Satan?
• Old Testament Reference to Lucifer
• New Testament References to Satan
Old Testament Reference to Lucifer
• Falling From Heaven
In the King James version of the Old Testament, there is only one reference to a being falling from heaven: “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming…How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer…thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:9-16 KJV)