Paradise Lost

1667

Epic poetry

John Milton's epic poem retelling the Genesis story of the Fall of Man, framed around Satan's rebellion against God and his expulsion from heaven. Milton's Satan is rendered with such rhetorical force that many readers — most famously the Romantics — found him a more sympathetic figure than God himself, reading the poem against its author's intent as a parable about individual freedom and rebellion against tyrannical authority. Mary Shelley's monster invokes the poem directly, comparing himself to both Adam and Satan.

Discussion

33. Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, part 1: A legion of horribles
17. Frankenstein, part 2: Nature vs nurture
16. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, part 1: Post-nut clarity and forbidden knowledge