The theme of Fall and
expulsion from Eden in Paradise Lost had
been in Milton's
mind from 1640s. His ambition was to compose an epic poem to rival the works of
ancient writers, such as Homer and Virgil,
whose grand vision in Aeneid left traced in his poem. It was originally
issued in 10 books in 1667, and in 12 books in the second edition of 1674. The
troubled times, in which Milton lived, left their mark on his theme of
religious conflict. Milton, who wanted to be a great poet, had also cope with
the towering figure of Shakespeare, who had died in 1616, Milton was seven at that
time. Milton's
first published poem was the sonnet 'An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet,
W. Shakespeare', which was printed anonymously in the Second Folio of
Shakespeare's works (1632). In his own hierarchy, Milton placed highest in the scale the epic,
below it was the drama.
Paradise
Lost is not easy to read
with its odd syntax, difficult vocabulary, and complex, noble style. Moreover,
its cosmic vision is not actually based on the Copernican system, but
more in the traditional Christian cosmology of its day, where the Earth is the
center, not the sun. The poem tells a biblical story of Adam and Eve, with God,
and Lucifer (Satan), who is thrown out of Heaven to corrupt humankind. Satan,
the most beautiful of the angels, is at his most impressive: he wakes up, on a
burning lake in Hell, to find himself surrounded by his stunned followers. He
has been defeated in the War of Heaven. "All is not lost; th' unconquerable
Will, / And study of revenge, immortal hate, / And courage never to submit or
yield... /" Milton created a powerful and sympathetic
portrait of Lucifer. His character bears similarities with Shakespeare's
hero-villains Iago and Macbeth, whose intellectual nihilism is transformed into
metaphysical drama.
Milton's view influenced deeply Romantic poets William
Blake and Percy
Bysshe Shelley, who saw Satan as the real hero of the poem and a
rebel against the tyranny of Heaven. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Blake stated that Milton as "a true Poet, and of the Devil's
party without knowing it." Many other works of art have been inspired by
Paradise Lost, among them Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation, Alexander
Pope's The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad, John
Keat's poem Endymion, Lord
Byron's The Vision of Judgment, satanic Sauron in J.R.R.
Tolkien's saga The Lord of the Rings. Noteworthy, Nietzsche's
Zarathustra has more superficial than real connections with Milton's Lucifer, although Nietzsche knew Milton's work
