Paradise Lost and Selected Poetry and Prose

John Milton’s Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language.

It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind’s destiny. The struggle rages across three worlds – heaven, hell, and earth – as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the centre of the conflict are Adam and Eve, who are motivated by all too human temptations but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love.

The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books with minor revisions throughout.