Book I of John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Of man’s disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
(I.1-3)

Few works of English literature begin with greater confidence than John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Before introducing a single character or describing a single scene, Milton tells his readers exactly what he intends to accomplish: to sing of humanity’s fall into sin and, in doing so, “justify the ways of God to men.”

These opening lines serve as the thesis of the entire epic. Everything that follows—the rebellion of Satan, the temptation in Eden, the Fall of mankind, and the promise of redemption—is contained in seed form within this magnificent invocation. Before the story begins, Milton has already announced its subject, scope, and ultimate purpose.

An Epic for a New Age

Milton consciously places himself in the tradition of the great classical poets. Homer began the Iliad by asking the Muse to sing of Achilles’ wrath. Virgil opened the Aeneid with the famous words, arma virumque cano—“I sing of arms and a man.”

Yet Milton transforms the convention. Rather than invoking one of the pagan Muses of Mount Helicon, he calls upon the “Heav’nly Muse”—not Calliope, but the Holy Spirit Himself, who inspired Moses to write the Scriptures.

Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
(I.6-8)

Oreb and Sinai are the mountains associated with God’s revelation to Moses. By invoking the Spirit who inspired Moses, Milton grounds his poem not in pagan mythology but in divine revelation. His authority rests not on the imagination of poets but on the God who revealed Himself in Holy Scripture. In this way, Paradise Lost announces itself as a Christian epic, surpassing the classical tradition while employing its literary form.

With loss of Eden, till one greater man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
(I.4-5)

Though Eden has been lost through Adam’s disobedience, Milton turns the reader’s eyes to hope. The promise of “one greater Man” is a clear reference to Jesus Christ, the Second Adam. Where the first Adam brought sin and death into the world, Christ restores what was lost through His perfect obedience, His death, and His resurrection. Through Him, mankind receives the redemption forfeited in Eden and is reconciled to God, with the promise of something greater than the paradise that was lost.

Before going on, Milton concludes by confessing his dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He asks the Spirit who “mad’st” the primordial darkness “pregnant” with creation to illumine what is dark within him and raise what is low. Milton recognizes that the subject before him is far above the ability of unaided human reason to comprehend fully.

Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
(I.21-23)

The parallel is significant. The Spirit who brought light out of darkness at creation is asked to bring illumination to Milton’s mind. The poet recognizes that the subject before him is far above the ability of unaided human reason to comprehend fully. He therefore does not begin with confidence in his own powers, but with a prayer that God would enlighten and sustain him.

Milton does not ask merely for eloquence or poetic inspiration; he asks that God Himself enlighten his understanding and strengthen his weakness. Only then can he approach the “great argument” of the poem: God’s eternal providence and His justice toward mankind.

His purpose is not simply to tell an entertaining story about Adam, Eve, and Satan. Milton intends to wrestle with the deepest question raised by the Fall: how can the existence of sin, suffering, and death be reconciled with the goodness and justice of God?

That to the height of this great argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
(I.24-26)

The poem’s purpose is stated plainly. Milton seeks to defend neither God nor Scripture as though God stood accused before mankind. Rather, he seeks to show that God’s providence remains righteous even in the midst of humanity’s fall. The reader is therefore invited to look beyond the tragedy of Eden toward the greater purposes of God, culminating in the redemption accomplished by Christ.

Before the story has even begun, Milton has given us its subject, its hope, its source of inspiration, and its ultimate purpose: the Fall of man, the promise of redemption, the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and the righteousness of God’s providence.

Satan and Hell

Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky
(I.44-45)

The first thing Milton tells us about Satan is that God has already defeated him. When the poem begins, Satan is already lying in Hell, defeated. The phrase Almighty Power is deliberately stark. There is no contest. Satan rebelled against the omnipotent God and was cast down.

With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
(I.46-48)

Milton piles up judicial language. Hell is not simply a gloomy alternative kingdom where Satan gets to rule freely. It is punishment. This becomes particularly important when Satan later says, “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.” The irony is that Satan does not really rule in the way he imagines. He is a condemned rebel who attempts to reinterpret his punishment as a kingdom.

Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and night.
(I.49-50)

Satan’s rebellion is not a mere political disagreement or a struggle between competing kingdoms. Satan defied the Omnipotent.

And then comes the remarkable time comparison. Satan and the fallen angels had been lying in Hell for nine days. Milton gives the reader a sense of the magnitude of their defeat before Satan even speaks.

If thou beest he; but O how fallen! how changed
From him, who in the happy Realms of Light
Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine
Myriads, though bright: If he whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
Joined with me once, now misery hath joined
In equal ruin:
(I.84-90)

Satan’s first words show how he recognizes what was lost: “O how fallen! how changed.” He remembers the glory he once possessed in Heaven and contrasts it with his present condition. Milton reminds us that Satan was not created evil. He was a creature who possessed great glory but fell through rebellion against God.

Yet Satan begins to reinterpret his defeat. He remembers the fallen angels being united with him in “glorious enterprise.” The use of the word glorious is revealing. Satan does not describe their rebellion as a rebellion; he gives it the language of heroism. Their attempt to overthrow God becomes a “glorious enterprise.” and their defeat becomes merely “equal ruin.”

This is the beginning of one of Milton’s most important portrayals of Satan. Being a master of self-deception, Satan cannot deny he that he has fallen, but he can change the language with which he describes his falling. Rebellion becomes liberty. Defeat becomes misfortune. Pride becomes courage. Service to God becomes slavery.

Milton then turns from Satan’s speech to his physical appearance. Satan is enormous:

Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extending long and large
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr’d on Jove,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.
(I.192-202)

Milton’s description is purposefully extravagant. Satan is not just a fallen angel of ordinary size; he is immense, larger than the giants of Greek mythology and comparable even to the great sea creature Leviathan. The language unmistakably belongs to a tradition of epic poetry. Like Homer and Virgil, Milton introduces his central antagonist with overwhelming physical grandeur.

Yet there is an important irony here. Satan, while mighty, is not almighty. He has been defeated. His immense stature does not make him God’s equal; rather, it makes his fall all the more striking. Milton gives Satan the appearance of an epic hero, but he has already established that this apparent hero stands defeated beneath the judgment of God.

Milton could spend hundreds of lines describing Satan alone, and in many ways he does. Satan is undoubtedly the most developed figure among the fallen angels. Yet he is not alone. Lying with him in the fires of Hell are the angels who joined him in his rebellion, and Milton begins to introduce them by name.

The Fallen Angels

Satan is not alone in Hell. Scattered around him in the fires are the angels who followed him in his attempt to overthrow God. Milton now turns from the enormous figure of Satan to the multitude of his fellow rebels.

All these and more came flocking; but with looks
Downcast and damp; yet such wherein appeared
Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost
In loss itself;
(I.522-526)

Even in defeat, the fallen angels find encouragement in one another. They have lost Heaven, but they have not abandoned their rebellion. Gathering with Satan has given them a newfound purpose. What should have led to repentance instead has led to defiance.

Milton then gives an account of all the fallen angels, many names being familiar from Scripture and other religions. Satan remains their leader, but the fallen angels themselves are not insignificant. Milton identifies them as the false gods who would later receive worship from mankind. Moloch, Chemos, Dagon, Belial, Mammon, and others appear throughout the list.

Milton presents the pagan gods not as true gods, but as fallen angels who have turned mankind away from God. The idols of the nations have no divinity. Behind the false worship stands continuous rebellion.

The prophets condemned the idols of the nations as powerless things made by human hands, while St. Paul writes that the sacrifices of the Gentiles are offered “to devils, and not to God.” Milton incorporates this biblical understanding into his epic. The rebellion that began in Heaven continues upon the earth as the fallen angels seek to corrupt God’s creation and divert the worship owed to Him alone.

Milton gives several of these figures distinct characteristics. Moloch is associated with violence and human sacrifice:

First, Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears.
(I.392-394)

Mammon represents a different kind of rebellion. His desire is not primarily for violence but for earthly wealth and the treasures of the earth. Milton describes him as the spirit who was most enamored with the riches of Heaven itself. His sin is the turning of the creature toward created things rather than toward the Creator.

Belial presents yet another form of wickedness. Milton describes him as beautiful in appearance and persuasive in speech, but utterly corrupt in character. He is a particularly striking example of one of Milton’s recurring themes: evil does not always appear ugly. Wickedness can possess beauty, intelligence, eloquence, and refinement while remaining wicked.

The fallen angels represent more than a collection of colorful mythological characters. Each demonstrates a different manifestation of the same fundamental sin: the turning away from God. Whether through violence, lust, greed, idolatry, or self-indulgence, the creature seeks what belongs properly to the Creator.

Yet the fallen angels are not content merely to remain scattered in Hell. Having recovered from the shock of their defeat, they gather together to deliberate on what they should do next. Satan’s rebellion has failed, but his desire to oppose God has not.

The fallen angels begin to reason about the very things they have rejected. They debate providence, foreknowledge, free will, and fate, attempting to understand how they could have been defeated if God is truly omnipotent.

There is a bitter irony in this. They are willing to debate the mysteries of God’s providence, but they are unwilling to submit to the God whose providence they debate. Their intellectual questions are not pursued in humility or faith but in the service of rebellion.

Eventually, their council leads them toward a common purpose: if they cannot overthrow Heaven, they will turn their attention to God’s newly created world.

Before they can carry out this plan, however, they need a place in which to meet and deliberate. Milton now gives us one of the most famous constructions in all of epic poetry: Pandemonium, the capital of Hell.

Pandemonium

A various mould and from the boiling ceilings
By strange, conveyance filled each hollow nook
As in an organ from one blast of wind
To many rows of pipes the sound-board breathes.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
With golden architrave; nor did there want
Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures grav’n.
(I.706-716)

Having been gathered together, Milton now gives the fallen angels a palace in which to hold their council. The result is Pandemonium.

The description is magnificent. Pandemonium is enormous, beautiful, and richly adorned, resembling a classical temple or palace. Milton once again uses the language of epic grandeur to describe something as evil.

The name itself means “all demons,” and the palace becomes the meeting place of the fallen angels. Having rejected God’s kingdom, they immediately construct a counterfeit kingdom of their own. They cannot create a new Heaven, so they build a false imitation of it in Hell.

The grandeur of Pandemonium remains deceptive. The fallen angels can build magnificent halls and call themselves gods, but none of this changes what they are. They remain creatures who have been defeated and cast out of Heaven.

Book I ends with the fallen angels gathered together in their infernal palace, ready to deliberate on how they might continue their rebellion against God. The council itself will begin in Book II.

Milton has therefore accomplished an enormous amount in the first book. He has introduced the Fall of man, announced the promise of the “one greater Man,” invoked the Holy Spirit, shown Satan’s defeat, introduced the fallen angels, and established Hell as the setting for their continued rebellion. Yet beneath all the grandeur and rhetoric of Satan and his followers, one fact remains unchanged: God reigns, and His enemies are already defeated.

A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,
Frequent and full. After short silence then
And summons read, the great consult began.
(I.796-798)

Back to Home →