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Paradise Lost
Houghton EC65.M6427P.1667aa - Paradise Lost, 1667.jpg
Title page of the first edition (1667)
AuthorJohn Milton
Cover artistJ. B. de Medina and Henry Aldrich
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
GenreEpic poetry, Christian theology
PublisherSamuel Simmons (original)
Publication date
1667
Media typePrint
Followed byParadise Regained 
TextParadise Lost at Wikisource

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men."

Composition