The film without the cuts. And the book itself.
The world was all before them.
Satan
The fallen archangel rises from the burning lake and makes ruin sound like freedom.
Hell
A prison of fire that gives no light, where the defeated are told they still rule.
One act of disobedience dooms humanity, yet dares hope for restoration.
Read →Justifie the Wayes of God
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of _Eden_, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top Of _Oreb_, or of _Sinai_, didst inspire That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth Rose out of _Chaos_: Or if _Sion_ Hill Delight thee more, and _Siloa’s_ Brook that flow’d Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th’ _Aonian_ Mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime. And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th’ upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad’st it pregnant: What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th’ Eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to men.
Before the poem asks anyone to sing, it makes you wait. The opening sentence names the crime, the fruit, death, and "all our woe" and holds off its command until redemption has been promised through "one greater Man," so that fall and rescue arrive in a single breath, the verb "Sing" landing only after the story's whole arc has been sketched. Milton, opening his epic, then asks not the classical Muses but the Spirit that "brooding on the vast Abyss" once made chaos "pregnant" to do the same to him. The request is exact: he wants creation performed on his own mind so the poem can be born. And he ends by staking everything on a startling claim, that a blind man can "justifie the wayes of God to men."
Awakening in Hell
Hurled from Heaven onto a lake of fire, Satan lifts his head and turns catastrophe into a rallying cry — better to reign here than serve above.
The Forbidden Fruit
One piece of fruit turns eating, praise, and a free choice into death.
Adam
The first man drops a garland meant for Eve when he learns innocence has already broken.
Paradise Lost
The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.
The Paradise Lost World, as it plays on your phone
- Meet the people. 19 characters, each with a portrait, who they are and what they want.
- Walk the places. 12 places, each pictured, and what happens there.
- Follow the plot. The turns of the story, in order, so you always know where you are.
- Taste the original. 54 key passages in John Milton’s own words, each with a short reading of what it is doing.
- The complete book. Every word, in a reader made for your phone. From any passage, one tap opens the book at that very page.
Step inside Paradise Lost
Free, in your inbox in about a minute: the World and the complete book, on your phone.