Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is the most complete and important epic poem in the English language, and it was written by a singular poet, polyglot and with a careful classical education, who had to live one of the most turbulent periods in the history of England: the Civil War, the Cromwell Republic, and the monarchical restoration, all in the middle decades of the seventeenth century. John Milton worked on the project of this great epic and "encyclopedic" poem for at least a couple of decades, his sources of inspiration being very diverse: the Bible, the Virgilian Aeneid, Ariosto's Orlando furioso, Dante's Divine Comedy, etc. The central theme of the work is the fall of man into sin and the loss of Paradise, but for a proper reading the epic character of the work must be taken into account, something that Milton never forgets.