Paradise Lost

John Milton’s epic, biblically-inspired poems Paradise Lost were first published in 1667. The literary works are considered to be some Milton’s best arrangements.

Today it is read aloud as an audio book by a full team of professional voice actors, starring such people as Denis Quilley as Milton, Ian McDiarmid as Satan and Robert Glenister as Christ.

Paradise Lost has two narrative arcs, one about Satan (Lucifer) and the other following Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, or, as it is also called in the poem, Tartarus.

In Pandæmonium, the capital city of Hell, Satan employs his rhetorical skill to organize his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to corrupt the newly created Earth and God’s new and most favoured creation, Mankind.

He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traversal of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God’s new material World, and later the Garden of Eden.

At several points in the poem, an Angelic War over Heaven is recounted from different perspectives. Satan’s rebellion follows the epic convention of large-scale warfare. The battles between the faithful angels and Satan’s forces take place over three days.

At the final battle, the Son of God single-handedly defeats the entire legion of angelic rebels and banishes them from Heaven.

Following this purge, God creates the World, culminating in his creation of Adam and Eve.

While God gave Adam and Eve total freedom and power to rule over all creation, he gave them one explicit command: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on penalty of death.

The poems continue on from here towards a full biblical journey, venturing deeper into a more vivid imagery constructed by John Milton and a dramatic audio landscape by the readers.