But, whereas most of those other poets wrote epics celebrating martial heroism (i.e., being a good soldier, winning wars, etc.), Milton's poem explores a more spiritual heroism.
#Sparknotes paradise lost full#
Milton, being Milton, also realized that to be a full member of the Cool Writer Club he had to write an epic. Actually, Milton always saw himself alongside the greatest poets of Western literature – Homer (Greek), Virgil (Roman), Dante (Italian), and Spenser (English), among others. But, at the end of the day, we should be careful about identifying Milton – a very serious Christian – too completely with Satan and his wingmen.īut Milton didn't just write Paradise Lost because he was upset and felt that he had lost his own paradise he had been planning the poem for quite some time. The similarities between Milton and the Satan he creates are huge and worth pondering. People have often commented on the fact that Milton himself resembles the Satan he creates in his poem Satan (who, when the story begins, has just been crushed) attempted to launch a revolution to do away with God, because he thought God was a tyrant. In many ways, he was in the perfect position to write a poem about the loss of Paradise, seeing as how his own aspirations for a brand new government had gone up in smoke. (Check out Andrew Marvell's poem " To His Coy Mistress.")īy this time Milton was totally blind as well, and the thing for which he passionately fought (a better English government) was in ruins. He spent some time behind bars, and almost found his way to the chopping block, but, thankfully, he was eventually pardoned with the help of influential friends like fellow poet Andrew Marvell. While Milton wasn't directly involved in the beheading, he was still a wanted man. The return of Charles II from exile to assume the English throne is called the Restoration, because the English monarchy was restored.Īs you might expect, Charles II wasn't too happy about his dad's death and he executed many of those responsible. At that time, Parliament realized things weren't working out so well, so they decided to bring back Charles's exiled son, Charles II, and make him king. Cheery, huh?Īs it turns out, Charles I didn't fulfill his end of the bargain (ruh-roh) and literally lost his head in 1649. According to Milton, the king exists to serve the people and Parliament if he doesn't fulfill his end of the bargain, they should be allowed to kill him.
In one very famous pamphlet, he actually defended Parliament's right to behead the king should the king be found inadequate.
The young John Milton was all about the Parliamentarians and wrote a lot of pamphlets supporting their positions. As you can probably guess, the Parliamentarians were fed up with their king and wanted Parliament to play a more important role in English politics and government. On the other side were the Parliamentarians, the men of Parliament (think: Congress) who represented different parts of Britain. On one side were the Royalists, a group of people that supported King Charles I (royalty, Royalists). In the 1640s a civil war was raging in England. John Milton wasn't just a poet he was a wanted man.
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