Paradise Lost

John Milton [1608–1674), an English poet of the 17th century, wrote the epic poem Paradise Lost in blank verse. Ten books and more than ten thousand lines of poem make up the original edition, which was published in 1667. In 1674, a second edition appeared with slight changes throughout and was divided into twelve volumes (similar to Virgil's Aeneid). It is regarded as Milton's crowning achievement and contributed to his emergence as one of the greatest English poets of all time. The poem is about the biblical account of how man fell, including Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve and their banishment from the Garden of Eden.