Paradise Lost Review!

I miss when fanfictions were so rare that one could be professionally published as an epic poem and become a renowned classic of the English language. I also miss when the cultural environment was such that even a slightly sympathetic depiction of the devil was enough to cause controversy and delirium amongst readers. I also miss when something could be so awful you had to invent a word just to describe it, as is the case of "pandemonium" in John Milton's epic 1667 poem Paradise Lost, one of the renowned classics of western literature. Paradise Lost retells the Biblical account of the war in heaven, the creation, and of the fall of Adam and Eve from the perspective of Satan, fleshing out and humanizing the first three chapters of the Holy Bible. 

The Fall of Satan to the Earth - Gustave Doré

Given how much it is influenced by the King James Bible, and given that it's an epic poem from four centuries ago, the language is decidedly archaic and difficult to understand at times, even by epic poem from four centuries ago standards. I genuinely thought it was translated from Italian as I read the first chapter, especially with how heavily it relies on Italian geography and Greek mythology, but I was wrong! John Milton was born and reared in London. It was just difficult to imagine that any sane English-speaking man would write a sentence such as this one:

“Imput’st thou that to my default, or will of wandering, as thou call’st it, which who knows but might as ill have happened thou being by, or to thyself perhaps?” (Paradise Lost, IX:1145-1148).

Not all of it is as archaic/borderline unintelligible as the cited quote, but a fair amount of it certainly is. The rest is genuinely beautiful imagery, with my favorite being Adam's description of the first time he met Eve: 

"Under his forming hands a creature grew, man-like, but different sex, so lovely fair that what seemed fair in all the world seemed now mean, or in her summed up, in her contained and in her looks, which from that time infused sweetness into my heart, unfelt before, and into all things from her air inpspires the spirit of love and amorous delight."  (Paradise Lost, XIII:470-477)

To that end, the characterization of Biblical figures is where Paradise Lost really shines. It isn't (or at least shouldn't be) controversial to say that many stories in the Bible lack personality and cover their material much too briefly - as already stated, this 400+ page poem covers only the first three chapters of the Bible, filling in the narrative gaps in Genesis such as: Why God created the universe, the identity of the serpent, why Adam would eat the fruit despite knowing it was wrong, and why God allowed Satan to interfere with the Garden of Eden in the first place. Here, John Milton does a terrific job of fleshing out these legendary figures whilst not deviating too far from their righteous characterization in the source material. 

The most well-rounded of the lot is easily the Devil himself, Satan. The story of an angel who fell from God's grace and took 1/3 of heaven with him is an iconic and essential part of Christianity despite the relatively little information given in the Bible (All things said and done, it's probably less than ten verses). John Milton's Paradise Lost is therefore a revolutionary (and, at the time, controversial) look at Lucifer. He is anti-establishment, disagrees with the heavenly monarchy, he's a charming public speaker, and he now bears the burden of being the face of a war he knows cannot win, but must nevertheless continue to fight for the moral of his troops whom he has doomed to hell for all time and eternity. I found his self-reflection in chapter four, wherein he debates whether to go through with his plan to tempt Adam and Eve at all, particularly insightful. This contemplative and complex portrayal of the fallen Morning star is what planted the seeds for develish appearances in The Screwtape Letters and The Sandman. 

Pandemonium - John Martin, 1841

One of my favorite aspects of Paradise Lost is how Adam and Eve had sexual relations before the fall. A lot of Christian sects view that knowledge as something that happened post-Eden, if not the very thing the tree taught, with some fringe groups even believing Satan had sex with Eve (A lot to unpack there, none of it Biblical), so the way Milton describes their happy marriage - a marriage that included "amorous desires" - not as a thing of shame but rather as a fulfillment of happiness, is very well contrasted towards what happens once they eat the fruit. In a moment of unbridled lust, Adam's eyes are opened and he describes Eve as such: 

"For never did thy beauty since the day I saw thee first and wedded thee. Adorned with all perfections, so inflame my sense with ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now than ever, bounty of this virtuous tree." (Paradise Lost IX:1029-1033)

Comparing that to his aforementioned description of Eve, wherein the feelings were sweet and romantic, this shocking implementation of lust is a wholly devastating moment. This leads to their first sexual encounter post-tree, which masterfully transitions them from the spiritual high of being close to God to the physical high of complete sexual fulfillment, only for them to wake up in the morning and find they have neither the spirit with them nor their romantic feelings. Their eyes have been opened, but their innocence has been robbed, and they begin to argue bitterly, a shameful moment that is interrupted once God appears. This once-happy couple is then described as such: 

"Love was not in their looks, either to God or to each other, but apparent guilt, and shame, and perturbation, and despair, anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile." (Paradise Lost X:111-114)

In a clever, classy, and emotionally devastating way, we here see John Milton's strong penmanship and poetry at work and how sublime his interpretations of archetypal Christian figures are. Equally strong is is the glorious first appearance of Jesus, although his role later in the book I found to be ultimately disappointing. Jesus is often a thankless role, but in Paradise Lost it is especially thankless as he once again is written as a personality and motivation-less servant whose sole purpose is to do whatever the Father asks (Which is technically true to the source material, but not very interesting). 

Forthwith Upright He Rears from off the Pool His Mighty Stature - Gustave Doré, 1866

It was also interesting to see how Milton portrays the Trinity; it's notable that he portrays God as unitarian instead of trinitarian (The Christian norm), and the multitude of archangels that appear is fun fan service. This is also where we get to the aspects of the poem I wasn't too fond of - namely the giant interlude about the War in Heaven.

After such a dynamite start with Satan's fantastical journey through hell, infiltration of heaven security, and first encounter with Eve, the poem slows dooooooown to a glacial pace as the events of the War in Heaven and Creation are reverently retreaded. Knowing that the Fall (and return to the ongoing narrative) lies ahead makes the passages unbearable, and the additional 100 pages don't add much to the Biblical adaptation when we consider how revolutionary the rest of Paradise Lost was. I suppose one could make the argument that it's integral to understanding the larger narrative, but to that I would argue that references to the War in Heaven and the events that transpired there are common before and after the interlude and give the reader all the context they need to understand the motivations of each character. The overall highlights are Satan's rousing speech to the angels in chapter five and the description of the Earth in chapter seven:

"Sons of Heaven possessed before by none, and if not equal all, yet free, equally free; for orders and degrees jar not with liberty, but well consist. Who can in reason then or right assume monarchy over such as live by right His equals, if in power and splendor less, in freedom equals?... Much less for this to be our Lord, and look for adoration, to the abuse of those imperial titles which assert our being ordained to govern, not to serve?" (Paradise Lost 5:787-802). 

"Earth now seemed like to Heaven, a seat where gods might swell. Or wander with delight, and love to haunt her sacred shades." (Paradise Lost, 7:326-331)

Additionally, the fact that the entire thing is just a prolonged conversation wherein Raphael tells Adam about the events that transpired makes it doubly unbearable, as flashback conversations that take up large chunks of the narrative is one of my least favorite tropes (although that's admittedly more about me than Milton).

I also heavily disliked the blending of Roman and Greek mythologies with Christianity; it felt arbitrary and overplayed. As I mentioned before, I genuinely thought this was originally translated from Italian, and a large part of that is the appearance of the Olympian Gods, Prometheus, and Pandora, and the focus on Mediterranean geography; while it made sense to include Moloch, Baal, and Belial in a Christian work, I found it odd that Milton chose to focus solely on the Greek pantheon for non-biblical pagan gods. I also wasn't very keen on how he would draw comparisons to events that would occur thousands of years later in the Bible, such as the story of Hophni and Phineas from 1 Samuel. 

Overall, I would recommend Paradise Lost, but only to those who are a) interested in Christianity and willing to let their preconceived notions slide, or b) people interested in the history of the English language and the epics that defined it. In a world where Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, and Gilgamesh defined their respective languages and cultures, Paradise Lost is a superb product of 16th century England. 

"Only add deeds to thy knolwedge answerable, add faith, add virtue, patience, temperance, add love, by name to come called charity, the soul of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth to leave this Paradise, but shalt possess a Paradise within thee, happier far." (John Milton, Paradise Lost XII:581-587)