By Joe Carlson

Milton Text and Curriculum
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(The following is adapted from the Introduction to Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, part of the Roman Roads Classics series published by RR Press.

You might be asking yourself, Why Paradise Regained? I thought only Paradise Lost was considered an epic? It is true, the focus of academia has largely been on the story of Adam and Eve, to the neglect of the temptation of Christ. Paradise Lost is more famous by far than its follow-up, but not necessarily for any good reason. Milton’s poetry is perhaps not as expansive or far-ranging in Paradise Regained, but that is because his focus in the latter text is tighter, his action more confined to the few days surrounding the events of Luke 4. In terms of content and sheer poetic power, I consider Paradise Regained on equal footing with Paradise Lost. Furthermore, it is my firm conviction that Milton wished the two to be read together. Paradise Regained finishes the character arc of Satan, answering once and for all the ludicrous charge leveled by some of the Romantics that Milton was of the devil’s party. At the end of Paradise Lost, even though Satan has been reduced to a slithering snake, along with his host in Pandaemonium, his efforts have tragically succeeded. We are left only with a bright foreshadow of the redemption to come, and the restoration of all things in Christ, followed by the supreme sadness of leaving the Garden behind forever. Paradise Lost, though faithful to a Christian understanding of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation through the work of Christ, has the feel of a tragedy. But paired with Paradise Regained the whole story is suddenly framed by victory. 

Christ’s triumph over Satan is the note Milton wanted to end on, and brings to the forefront the other main character arc of the two poems, that of the Son of God. Adam and Eve are not the main characters of Paradise Lost, nor is Satan. The focal point in both epics is the Son. In a passage that could easily be in the voice of either the heavenly choir or the narrator, Milton writes:

Oh unexampled love,     

Love nowhere to be found less than divine! 
Hail, Son of God, Savior of Men! Thy name 
Shall be the copious matter of my song 
Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise 
Forget, nor from thy Father’s praise disjoin. 
– Paradise Lost 3.410-415 

After the famous lines concerning Milton’s intention to justify the ways of God to men, this is the dominant thesis of the whole poem. For how do you assert eternal providence or justify God’s ways without magnifying the name of Jesus? It cannot be done. In Paradise Regained, the Son takes center stage and again casts down the insolent serpent of old, and this time for good. Reading Lost and Regained together as one continuous narrative amplifies this victory and shapes our understanding of everything that led up to it, including the Fall in the Garden. In the final climactic moments of the Regained, Jesus reveals Himself to be not only another man like Adam, not just a higher celestial being like Satan, but the very incarnation of God Himself: 

‘Tempt not the Lord thy God.’” He said, and stood;
But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.
As when Earth’s son, Antaeus (to compare
Small things with greatest), in Irassa strove
With Jove’s Alcides, and, oft foiled, still rose,
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,
Throttled at length in the air expired and fell,
So, after many a foil, the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall…
– Paradise Regained 4.561-571

Throughout Regained, Satan is baffled as to who this new “Son of God” could be, for that phrase, he argues, has been used to describe many created beings, including Adam, including Satan himself. It is only here, at the pinnacle of the temple, that he realizes just who Jesus is: his Creator and the supreme power he has forever feared. He is “thy God.” At once, he falls, as Antaeus fell from the fierce grip of Alcides. Milton goes on–just as the Sphinx cast herself from the walls of Thebes after Oedipus solved her riddle, 

So, strook with dread and anguish, fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.   
So Satan fell…
– PR 4.576-581

Whereas at the end of Paradise Lost, Satan seems to have the upper hand, his children Sin and Death running wild over all the Earth, here, as Paradise Regained comes to a close, Satan’s fall is even more final and conclusive than when he fell from Heaven. Seven times in twenty one lines the word fell/fall is used, indicating the fullness of Christ’s victory over the Arch-Fiend. In this way, the pride of Book 1 of Paradise Lost (“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n” [263]), finds its ultimate fall. Satan’s arc is complete; he is no threat to the King of kings and Lord of lords. In the same stroke, the Son’s arc is complete as well, as He walks away in total victory.

Reading the two works together cultivates the assurance of hope offered by the Gospel. Stepping into the rich imaginative landscape created by Milton in imitation of Scripture, enables us to see with striking clarity the optimism of the Christian faith. Our affections are drawn toward the Victor, our loyalties strengthened, our allegiance vindicated in the face of whatever tempting power remains to the fallen fiend. Reading the two as a continuous story supplies us with richly laden symbols and images by which we can understand the world we are in at a deeper level as we look out into the same world represented in the poems. Epic poems in general teach us to read and understand the times in which we live; Dante and Milton in particular teach us what we ought to do.

So sit back and enjoy what Milton offers you here. Let the sweetness of Milton’s language, the richness of his imagery, the depth of his allusions, the power of his rhetoric, the persuasiveness of his narrative sweep you up into a mimetic world of beauty and tragedy, hope and restoration, the consequence of sin and the consequence of mercy.

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JOE CARLSON (MA Humanities) lives in Moscow, Idaho with his wife and son. He received his BA from New St Andrews College, and his masters degree from the University of Dallas where he is currently finishing his doctorate. He has managed a chain of coffee shops, published (micro) epic poetry, co-pastored a church, co-founded a university campus ministry, and taught many different kinds of classes over the years. He is an adjunct lecturer at New St Andrews College and a curriculum developer at Roman Roads Press. He is the author of the Dante Curriculum, which includes an original blank verse translation of the Divine Comedy, published by Roman Roads Press.