26
votes
Accepted
Was Paradise Lost the first major work of literature to give "sympathy for the devil"?
As asked, the question is difficult to answer. Several premises are open to question:
What constitutes a "major work"?
What is your definition of "sympathy" in this context?
...
- 22.1k
16
votes
What is an epic and why is there “only one epic in English Language so far”?
Since Milton is often discussed in the context of Renaissance literature, I'll quote the definition of "epic" from The Renaissance (edited by Marion Wynne-Davies, Bloomsbury Guides to ...
- 44k
8
votes
Why aren't God's pronouns capitalized in Paradise Lost?
Reverential capitalization has never been a constant in English language works, and it's newer than you think. John Milton, born as the final touches were being made on the King James Version, may not ...
- 1,759
8
votes
Accepted
Satan's motivation in Paradise Lost
Milton says a couple of times that Satan’s motives were envy (of Jesus, whom God nepotistically promoted above him) and pride:
Th’infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stird up with Envy and ...
- 53.5k
6
votes
In "Paradise Lost", how can a fleet of ships "hang in the clouds"?
Wordsworth thought that the phrase was a leap of pure imagination:
Here is the full strength of the imagination involved in the word, hangs, and exerted upon the whole image: First, the Fleet, an ...
- 53.5k
5
votes
Which traits of Milton's Lucifer from "Paradise Lost" did Neil Gaiman carry to "The Sandman"?
Neil Gaiman described his concept for Season of Mists, the Sandman story which introduces Lucifer as a major character, in these terms:
The story was inspired loosely by something the Abbé Mugnier ...
- 51
5
votes
Source of Milton's idea that God tilted the Earth's axis after the fall of man
The notion is that in the Garden of Eden, the original pre-Lapsarian world, there were no seasons but an eternal springtime. Then at a later date, God introduced the seasons as part of a general ...
- 729
4
votes
What is an epic and why is there “only one epic in English Language so far”?
There are many epics in English besides Paradise Lost. Technically speaking, the "epic" is a narrative mode rather than a genre. What makes a narrative "epic" is a distinction ...
- 101
4
votes
Accepted
Is John Milton's Lucifer a tragic hero?
In his introductory essay to the John Milton volume of 'Bloom's Critical Views' Harold Bloom called this question
the most famous and vexing of critical problems concerning
Paradise Lost, the Satanic ...
- 760
3
votes
Accepted
What were the dimensions of the original Doré set for Paradise Lost?
Plate 41, as per the Met Museum website has the following dimensions
Dimensions: sheet: 16 5/16 x 11 1/4 in. (41.5 x 28.5 cm)
image: 9 5/8 x 7 7/8 in. (24.5 x 20 cm)
The same image dimensions are ...
- 18.6k
3
votes
Paradise Lost pagan gods
Related: Is John Milton's Lucifer a tragic hero?
One interesting feature of Paradise Lost is that the demons are presented as multi-dimensional, complicated characters - likely even more so than ...
2
votes
Accepted
Did Satan feel genuine remorse for his actions and compassion for his subordinates?
Milton is using a couple of these attributes in senses that are now archaic. In “considerate Pride”, I think that it works best if we take “considerate” in the sense
considerate, adj. 1. Marked by ...
- 53.5k
1
vote
Satan's motivation in Paradise Lost
Here's the relevant transcript from the Yale Milton Course. I guess Satan suffered from a sense of unfairness/injustice from the meritocratic breakdown of the Son's exultation (or maybe from loss of ...
- 163
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible