How far does Milton follow the convention of Epic in Paradise Lost Bk 1 ?

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    "Paradise Lost" was first published in 1667. Milton had began to composed it in 1658,he had then been totally blind forever five years and we have to imagine that the poem taking shape by a process of mental composition, the dictation of perhaps 50 lines at a time and as well as repeated checking and revision. When it was complete there was a final revision which took about two years ; and the subsequent process of getting the poem into print was a massive task.


About Paradise Book 1

    "Paradise Lost" renews the heroic ideas of Homar and Virgil but only to condemn them. Yet in the process of convention Milton exploits to the full their poetic beauty, in the same way as he exploits the beauty of classical mythology while he never fails to tell us that it is 'fable' that is either fantasy or a garbled form of truth. A new kind of heroism is put forward, superior to the old, the spiritual in the state of the symbols of human ideal. If that intention is hampered by the absence of an action which a 'spiritual' hero can show his truth capacity. Milton has made up for it in his presentation of the old ideal through Satan whether in hell or heaven.

How far does Milton follow the convention of Epic in Paradise Lost Bk 1
Paradise Lost/convention


Lines in Paradise Lost -  Ten thousand five thousand sixty lines of blank verse divided into twelve books, each headed by a prose 'argument' or summery on the content. 

Narrator of the Paradise Lost - John Milton 

Point of view  of the Paradise Lost - Third Person. 

Tone of the epic Paradise Lost - Lofty formal tragic tone. 

Tense used in the epic Paradise Lost - present 

Setting of the epic Paradise Lost Book 1-  Pandemonia/ Hell. 

Time -Before the beginning  of the time. 

Place - Hell, chaos of night, earth (Paradise the garden of eden). 

Sources of the epic Paradise Lost - Milton used The Bible, Homer's "Iliad  and odessy", Virgil's "Aeneid" and the stories in Greeko - Roman mythology as sources of the information and as writing model.

Theme of the Book 1 in Paradise Lost -  In Book 1 the Paradise Lost  Milton reveals the central theme of the work : "to justify the ways of God to man". here justify means to 'explain  and defend' and ultimately to 'vindicate ' , God's courts of action in dealing with Adam and Eve after they succumb to the temptation and it forbidden fruit. 

Major conflict in Book 1 - Satan already damned to hell undertakes to corrupt God 's new beloved creation human kind.


How far does Milton follow the convention of Epic in "Paradise Lost" Bk 1 ? 

  - An Epic is a poem of great length describing a heroic incident. It has heroic characters and is written in a high and exalted language. 

It is two types : 1) primary or oral epic and, 

                            2) secondary or written epic. 

The primary epic passes from mouth to ears through generations before it is coded down. 

    A familiar example of primary epic is "Beowulf ".

    The secondary epic on the other hand is written and is marked by an intricacy of detail. 

    Virgil's Aeneid is an example of the type of secondary epic. 

    Milton tried his hand at epic in his Latin poem In Quintum Novembris. Two years later he indicated in vacation Exercise that he intended to write an epic poem in English and the result of the intention was "Paradise Lost".

     The first attack on convention that Paradise Lost makes is that it violates the secular spirit of the epic. "Paradise Lost" is a Christian epic and perhaps the only major exception that Milton makes.  Paradise Lost follows the tradition set by Virgil, Ovid, and Homer meticulously. 

    The first convention that Milton follows is the Invocation. Following classical example Milton in the invocation sets the theme of his work and invokes the Muse.   Homer's lliad begins with : 

    "Achilles ' wrath to Greece the direful spring          of woes unnumbered  , Heavenly goddess sing".

    Milton in Paradise Lost sings the song of ' man's disobedience '. In the invocation we find Milton following his classical ancestors not only in his immediate introduction of the main subject but also in diction which is high, heroic and sophisticatedly Latinate. 

    In the invocation we also find Milton referring to the Muse whose permission is sought for an attempt as ambitious as this. The Muse Milton applies to is Urania. She is located on the on the 'secret top'  of Horab, Sinai - a place sacred in Hebraic belief.  Milton asks Urania to lead him higher than the ' Aonian mount ' of the classical poet since his subject is higher than theirs.

    But unlike tradition, this invocation is presented as a prayer to the Holy Spirit read by the Christians and found in the second verse of Genesis. This prompts Gilbert Murray to comment in The Classical Tradition in poetry that in the Invocation Milton has fused three great sources of Renaissance religious poetry - Classical,  Hebrew,  and Christian. 

    Every classical epic depicts the grandness of its protagonist.  Satan in the first two books of Paradise Lost  is certainly a grand character. He is presented as majestic. The first grand impression he makes is by his tremendous size. Following classical tradition Milton does not describe Satan in details. We are told about his gigantic size mainly through a description of his spear and shield. Milton evokes the symbol of the sun to describe him. But this sun is seen through mists. We understand that Satan has still not lost his original brightness and that he is majestic but flawed. 

    In Paradise Lost the epic convention is also preserved in the heroic similie that Milton applies as a part of his descriptive art. We find Satan sprawled on the lake like Leviathan. This is a Homeric similie. But elsewhere in the poem we find examples of other kinds of similie. These are found for example after in the comparison Milton makes to describe the huge number of angels who fell with Lucifer. 

    At Satan's call ' Awake, arise or be forever fallen the legions begin to rouse from stupor. Here we find two comparisons - one brief and the other biblical. The first compares the fallen soldiers with sentinel asleep on duty. Then Milton goes back to the Bible to call for a comparison of them with the locusts who "o'er " the realm of impious Pharaoh hung / Like night and darkened all the land of Nile. 

    In Iliad we find a catalogue of 'ships and commanders ' engaged in the Trojan war. In paradise Lost we find Milton following this tradition through a roll - call of fallen angels who are described according to their rank and evilness. 

     Lastly, every epic has a moral. In Paradise Lost we also find a moral. This moral makes us believe that man has lost his place in Paradise because of his original sin but can because of the one ' greater man ' regain his place in paradise via salvation and God 's benediction.  There are some of the epic convention followed by Milton in Paradise Lost. 


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