Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained assert “Eternal Providence” and “justify the ways of God to men” through the magnification of the Son over sin and death. In Paradise Lost, John Milton chronicles the fall of the demon horde into the depths of Hell, the escape of the archfiend into the beauties of unfallen Eden, the deception of Eve and the abdication of Adam, and the promise of future redemption. In the equally important follow-up, Paradise Regained, the great seventeenth-century poet investigates the motivations of Satan as he tempts Jesus in the wilderness, culminating in a second and even greater fall. Throughout both poems, which ought to be read together, the Son is consistently exalted and glorified as the Mighty Victor of Heaven and Earth, the One who will reconcile God to man.

This is His story, and it is glorious.

The text is Milton’s second edition of 1674, in twelve books, with modern spelling and Milton’s elisions kept for the meter. Each book opens with Joe Carlson’s summary, and each book of Paradise Lost with Milton’s own Argument. Short footnotes gloss the words that have changed, and line numbers run in the margin.