Response To John Milton's Paradise Lost

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Preface: I would like to note that of all of the works that we have studied, I can feel that this one, more than any of the rest, is one where I have just barely brushed the surface. No, not even that. With the studies done (and I did do the majority, I’d say I did like a solid 80%) I haven’t even brushed the surface; I have just looked at it. Going along with the water analogy, Paradise Lost is an ocean that I looked and, and acknowledged that it is indeed and ocean. I know there are things beneath, and I know with further investigation I could maybe see them, but as of right now I feel completely unjustified to write an essay over this epic poem. Me writing a potentially critical essay over this epic is like someone who lives in the middle …show more content…

The entire poem is set to blank verse; unrhyming 10-syllable iambic pentameter. Throughout the poem Milton continually uses vastly extended metaphors and similes, called epic metaphors and epic similes. The only time Milton does not use this technique in his writing is when the setting is in Heaven and God is talking. There are not metaphors or similes because what God says is. The first, and probably most well-renowned use of the epic metaphor is when Satan is first introduced in book 1. Approximately lines 192-242, Satan and his massive size are explained in detail. With Satan comes the introduction of the anti-hero, a new staple for epics. Before this work Satan was seen as a disgusting devil, thin a gangly, gross. But after his conception in PL he was transformed into the commonly known Sexy Satan: a hot young man, devilishly handsome, can lure anybody into selling their soul, or a smooth-talking devil that plays the fiddle, or any other number of instruments. Not only did Milton’s idea of Satan completely change how the big S was viewed, he also impacted and inspired many, many writers to come up with fantastical anti-heros. The type often seen now in comic book movies or in world-renowned children’s movies, most of which were themselves based on old …show more content…

Paradise Lost has had an unimaginable impact on all of English culture and writing and will continue to do so, until some bitter student from Worland High School decides to burn all of the copies in the world so that no one else has to suffer through word-calculous.
Postface: I did actually enjoy the study of this text. It wasn’t nearly as painful as I had thought that it was going to be. However, it was extremely challenging. That said, this will definitely be a title that I will pick up again later in my studies. Also, I apologize for rambling and having no external

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