Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe.
THIS IS THE story told in Paradise Lost, the twelve-book poem by John Milton (1608–1674). In this Bible-inspired epic, Satan learns of the world that God has created and sets out to corrupt Adam and Eve. What ensues is a battle between good and evil, fought on a cosmic stage that encompasses heaven, hell, chaos, and the fledgling earth. If you’ve ever gotten lost in Milton’s epic work, take this quick quiz to test your knowledge.
TRUE OR FALSE?
1. Milton was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost.
2. Because he wanted to create a British national epic, Milton considered writing a long poem about his hero, Henry VIII.
3. Milton’s sequel to Paradise Lost was called Paradise Found, and it told the biblical story of Moses’s exodus from Egypt.
4. The city in hell where Satan and his fallen angels dwell is called “Dis.”
5. Before Adam and Eve’s fall and expulsion from Eden, Satan comes to paradise in the form of a mist.
6. The line “better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” inspired a famous Star Trek episode and film.
ANSWERS
1. True. Each day, he dictated lines of verse to his daughters, who wrote them down for him.
2. False. Milton did consider writing an epic about the life of his political hero: Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan leader of the short-lived Commonwealth of England. He also considered a poem about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.
3. False. The sequel, Paradise Regained (1671), told the story of Jesus’s temptation by Satan.
4. False. Satan and his fellow devils live in “Pandemonium”—a word created by Milton that means “all the demons.” Dis is the city in the sixth circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno.
5. True. He then transforms into a serpent and tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
6. True. The line is spoken by Khan, the villain featured in “Space Seed” and the feature film The Wrath of Khan.