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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
| title = Paradise Lost
| original title =
| image = Paradise Lost 25.jpg
| caption = I've fallen and I can't get up!
| author = John Milton
| central theme = The Fall of Man
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Epic poetry
| publication date = 1667
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
|'''John Milton''', ''Paradise Lost''}}
'''''Paradise Lost''''' is [[John Milton]]'s sprawling [[Narrative Poem|epic poem]] exploring the Fall of Man, and attempting to reconcile the idea of [[God]]'s omniscience with Free Will. First published in ten books in 1667, the twelve-book version modern readers will be familiar with came out in 1674. Notably told largely from the perspective of [[Satan]] himself, though other scenes focus on [[God]] or Adam and Eve. ''Almost'' a [[Prequel]] to [[
▲{{quote|"''What in me is dark''<br />
▲''Illumine, what is low raise and support'';<br />
▲''That to the height of this great argument''<br />
▲''I may assert eternal Providence'',<br />
▲''And justify the ways of God to men''."|'''John Milton''', '''''Paradise Lost'''''}}
▲''Paradise Lost'' is [[John Milton]]'s sprawling [[Narrative Poem|epic poem]] exploring the Fall of Man, and attempting to reconcile the idea of [[God]]'s omniscience with Free Will. First published in ten books in 1667, the twelve-book version modern readers will be familiar with came out in 1674. Notably told largely from the perspective of [[Satan]] himself, though other scenes focus on [[God]] or Adam and Eve. ''Almost'' a [[Prequel]] to [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]], though chronologically most of the action (''all'' of it, if you don't count the lengthy [[Flash Back]] to the War in Heaven and Michael's summary of postlapsarian history yet to come) takes place entirely during the third chapter of Genesis. In epic theory (and yes, such a thing exists), ''Paradise Lost'' is the final epic, as it has elements of everything from the ''[[The Odyssey (Literature)|The Odyssey]]'' up through ''[[The Divine Comedy (Literature)|The Divine Comedy]]'' and ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''.
Well-known as a source for ''mountains'' of literary criticism and a host of [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Alternative Character Interpretations]], many think the poem [[Designated Villain|makes a better case]] for [[Satan]] than [[God]]. [[Misaimed Fandom|This was almost certainly not Milton's intent]], but while most critics acknowledge this, [[Death of the Author|some assert that his intent is not the point]]. Ever since forty years ago and Stanley Fish's ''Surprised By Sin'', other academic critics assert that this ''is'' the point; the author intended to subvert [[Misaimed Fandom]] by making the reader sympathetic to Satan in the opening part, but then surprising the reader by finding out that Satan was actually lying and is evil all along in the later parts. By this argument, the reader re-enacts the Fall by reading the work. The multitude of different ways to read it are undoubtedly part of the appeal for scholars and literature buffs alike -- it helps that this opens limitless doors for [[Flame War|reasonable argument]]. Or y'know, [[First Installment Wins|they could just read the sequel]].
{{tropelist}}
* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: Sin and Death.
* [[Archangel Michael]]: As a total [[Badass]].
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* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: God makes things interesting by only fielding exactly as many angels as Satan has demons to keep the battle at a stalemate until the Son takes the field and wipes the floor with the entire rebel army on his own. The Son is so terrifying that the demons throw ''themselves'' into Hell. Thematically, that's very important.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: “To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow./Gabriel? thou hadst in Heaven the esteem of wise,/And such I held thee; but this question asked/Puts me in doubt (Book IV, 883-886)." Satan is such a catty bitch.
* [[Distracted
** Eve sees her reflection and is stunned by its beauty, although she doesn't realize it's her at first.
** Satan also gets turned on by a female version of himself named [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Sin]]...because Satan is soo sexy with [[Ms. Fanservice|long hair and breasts]].
* [[Driven
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: The human race.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Chaos and Old Night.
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* [[Hell of a Heaven]]: After losing the war, Satan states that "The mind is its own place, and in it self. Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
* [[A Hell of a Time]]: Pandæmonium in particular sounds like a nice place to visit, and Mammon actually suggests tidying up around [[Hell]] and building a good place to live there.
* [[Hijacked
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: Although there is wordplay throughout, Satan and Belial have the most impressive example of this when they make a long series of puns about their cannons, pretending they are talking about negotiation but using terms that also have artillery-related meanings.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Appropriately for the [[Ur Example]] of the [[Consummate Liar]], almost every sentence Satan speaks is contradicted by his subsequent actions or the narrator's comments on his true emotional/mental state.
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* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The name "Lucifer" literally means "light bearer" in Latin. Satan's pre-Fall appearance (when he was still God's right hand angel) is described as being absolutely radiant and magnificent.
* [[Male Gaze]]: Yes, in literary form, with Eve. Repeatedly.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Satan even has readers in our world [[Comically Missing the Point|believing his lies]] that he wants to protect us from a tyrant even while he simultaneously plots how he's going to destroy us and make us suffer (Book IV) in a [[Revenge
* [[The Messiah]] The Son, aka Jesus.
* [[Motive Rant]]: Part of justifying the ways of God to Man is giving a clear a picture of God's (and Man's) enemy, which means explaining the [[Arch Enemy]]'s motive in full.
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* [[Rebellious Rebel]]: Abdiel.
* [[Red Right Hand]]: The devils are all marred somehow by the Fall. Belial actually uses the phrase to refer to God's anger, a [[Shout-Out]] to Horace.
* [[Revenge
* [[Satan]]: Generally read as either a [[Byronic Hero]], an [[Anti-Hero]], or just a [[Villain Protagonist]]. Maybe more than one.
* [[Satan Is Good]]: In his own mind, and from the [[Perspective Flip]] because [[Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad]].
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* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: When Satan gathers the angels under his command to make his campaign speech for rebelling against God, Abdiel is the only one present who refutes his arguments and declines to join the rebellion.
* [[Snake People]]: Satan's [[Parental Incest|daughter/lover]] Sin is one of these.
* [[Start My Own]]: Used almost word-for-word when the demons propose creating a "Heaven in Hell" as an alternative to rebelling against God. [[Futurama
* [[Start of Darkness]]: Both Satan's fall and mankind's "original sin."
* [[Straw Man Has a Point]]: Probably deliberately invoked, as Milton wanted Satan to sound as persuasive as sin. In fact, Satan argues against God by invoking democracy, free speech and egalitarianism, casting God's authority in the light of a dictatorship. This subject matter hit close to home for Milton, who was an outspoken critic of earthly censorship and autocracy. However, Milton believed that God's divine authority is beyond mortal judgment, as he argues in ''Tenure of Kings and Magistrates''.
* [[Sympathy for
* [[That Man Is Dead]]: The reader is frequently reminded that the names of all the fallen angels have been erased from heaven, and that what they are called is what humans have named them to be, not their 'real names'.
* [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]]: How angels "express" love, [[
* [[This Is Your Brain
* [[To Hell and Back]]: Sort of -- the whole thing opens on [[The Legions of Hell]] immediately after being tossed down there, but [[Satan]] ''does'' come back as far as Earth.
* [[Trope Namer]]: Lent the very ''word'' "pandemonium" to the language. We use it in English to mean chaos, but in the story it's actually an ordered, reasonable place. One demon suggests it so as to make a Heaven out of Hell.
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[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:The Epic]]
[[Category:
[[Category:School Study Media]]
[[Category:Paradise Lost]]
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