John Milton: life and Paradise Lost

Appunto inviato da ps13

Riassunto in inglese della vita di John Milton e descrizione del suo poema epico "Paradise Lost" (1 pagine formato doc)


John Milton.

John Milton was born in London in 1608. After many years of study he learnt latin greek and Italian. He during 1632-1637 published an poem: “ L’ allegro e il penseroso” and a great number of sonnet. In 1642 he married Mary Powell, but the puritan austerity and intellectual stature of her, were the cause of divorce that he justify in a series of pamphlets such as “Areopagitica”. In 1651 Milton became blind( cieco ), but blindness helped to stimulate his verbal richness.
After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Milton was arrested as a defender of Commonwealth but he was released. In the last years of his life he wrote the 3 his best poems: “Paradise Lost”(1667), “Paradise Regained”(1671) and “Samson Agonistes”(1671). In the end he dead in 1674.

Opere di John Milton in inglese: riassunto


Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost is divided into twelve books. The 1st book open with the theme of epic: the disobedience to God and expulsion from Heaven. In the 2nd they meet in council to decide what is to be done. In the 3rd book God say a homily on man’s freedom to good and evil. At the end of homely Jesus offers himself as the ransom for mankind and God accept this sacrifice. In the 4th book Satan observes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the 5th book God send Raphael to Adam and Eve to alert him from Satan. In the 6th book  talk about the war in the Heaven. In the 7th and 8th book he talk about the creation of universe and the Earth. In the 9th book Satan tries to persuading Eve to eat the holy apple. In the 10th book Jesus went to the Heaven to say the sentence of God. The expulsion from Eden of Eve and Adam. In the 11th and 12th book Adam and Eve leave from Paradise to meet the difficult of world together.


Milton chose the epic genre for his masterpiece because of the greatness of his subject. The epic is a very ancient form of poetry. Milton follows the typical epic conventions . In Paradise Lost he open the poem with a discourse where he says the theme of poem. The poem takes like place: Heaven, Hell and Eden. The typical character of poem was altered for changing of age. Again he take and use many image from mythology and bible.
The universe of Paradise Lost is based on the Ptolemaic system, and puts God and man at the ends of the universeso that man can reach God. God's throne is supported by 9 orders of angels, and 10 ° fell into the hell that is in front of Chaos. Again God created the earth and the universe from its image so that the external reality is the mirror of the divine
In Paradise Lost there are the certainty of the evil hanging over mankind, the hope of redemption and the belied in Divine Providence. Milton don’t intended Satan such as the hero of Paradise Lost, because he would escape from Hell and attack man, the God’s Creation. But Milton use the character of Satan because he would rebel against the political and religious authority that in this time was present in England.