Being a devout Christian, a reasonable free thinker, and a popular writer with a political conscience, John Milton took upon himself the ambitious task of writing a modern Christian epic in English , inspired by the classic pagan. tradition of epic verse. Undeterred by his visual impairment, Milton published the first edition of Paradise Lost in 1667, during the Restoration era. Given his talent, his commitment, the quality and the various connotations of the poem, Milton has been given his due as one of the most important literary figures of the 17th century, so that for the purposes of the academic classification, a considerable part of the age bears his name. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayParadise Lost emulates the epic tradition by beginning the poem with an invocation, which also serves as an introduction to the twelve-book poem with a brief summary. overview of its premises, themes and objectives. Here, and throughout the poem, Milton constantly emphasizes the novelty and superior nature of his subject, intention, and character; affirming the feeling that sets Paradise Lost apart from its predecessors in the epic style. This could be seen as vanity on the part of the poet, for after all, unlike the ancient classical epics, which on the surface were only glorious intimations of historical themes and legends, Paradise Lost, as Samuel Barrow points out, is the “history of all things”. For Milton, armed with the power of faith, attempts to encompass just about everything, from God, Heaven, Hell, creation, the origin of man, to the future of our world, in his verses while working on the basic biblical premise. In the process, he includes subtle opinions on relevant ideas such as predestination, free will, existentialism, polarity in mythology, and various metaphysical concepts, to create a grand array of fantastical imagery and insight. To this end he also uses many popular references and, as his subject matter was biblical, he rightly works on the reader's foreknowledge about it, which is of course on par with the epic tradition. From the first line, Milton slips the mind. The theme of Paradise Lost is clear - "Of man's first disobedience", and we see throughout the poem that Milton continues to emphasize the concept of "obedience" and the repercussions of not adhering to it, whether through the fallen angels or the former. mortals. He then goes on to talk about the infamous “fruit of the forbidden tree,” which actually “brought death into the world,” even though God already knew how these events would unfold. However, during the poem Milton points out a certain logic that despite this, man did indeed have free will, and thus sets out his view on Calvinist doctrines. Milton further traces all human suffering to the fruit, as the source of “all our misfortunes” and the reason behind the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the paradise of Eden. Next comes the first reference to the Son of God as "a greater man", who will restore humanity to its rightful place, thus alluding to the reconquest of Paradise. Thus, taking up the entire biblical plot in these few lines, Milton then proceeds to invocation of his muse, Urania, “the celestial”; although he does not explicitly mention her name until halfway through the poem in Book VII, where he asks her advice to continue his story from Earth after describing the great battle of the immortals in heaven. Urania, as a muse, was known to inspire the prophets of Israel”