Of the history of the great epic we have some interesting glimpses.  In Cambridge there is preserved a notebook of Milton’s containing a list of nearly one hundred subjects[167] for a great poem, selected while he was a boy at the university.  King Arthur attracted him at first; but his choice finally settled upon the Fall of Man, and we have four separate outlines showing Milton’s proposed treatment of the subject.  These outlines indicate that he contemplated a mighty drama or miracle play; but whether because of Puritan antipathy to plays and players, or because of the wretched dramatic treatment of religious subjects which Milton had witnessed in Italy, he abandoned the idea of a play and settled on the form of an epic poem; most fortunately, it must be conceded, for Milton had not the knowledge of men necessary for a drama.  As a study of character Paradise Lost would be a grievous failure.  Adam, the central character, is something of a prig; while Satan looms up a magnificent figure, entirely different from the devil of the miracle plays and completely overshadowing the hero both in interest and in manliness.  The other characters, the Almighty, the Son, Raphael, Michael, the angels and fallen spirits, are merely mouthpieces for Milton’s declamations, without any personal or human interest.  Regarded as a drama, therefore, Paradise Lost could never have been a success; but as poetry, with its sublime imagery, its harmonious verse, its titanic background of heaven, hell, and the illimitable void that lies between, it is unsurpassed in any literature.

In 1658 Milton in his darkness sat down to dictate the work which he had planned thirty years before.  In order to understand the mighty sweep of the poem it is necessary to sum up the argument of the twelve books, as follows: 

Book I opens with a statement of the subject, the Fall of Man, and a noble invocation for light and divine guidance.  Then begins the account of Satan and the rebel angels, their banishment from heaven, and their plot to oppose the design of the Almighty by dragging down his children, our first parents, from their state of innocence.  The book closes with a description of the land of fire and endless pain where the fallen spirits abide, and the erection of Pandemonium, the palace of Satan.  Book II is a description of the council of evil spirits, of Satan’s consent to undertake the temptation of Adam and Eve, and his journey to the gates of hell, which are guarded by Sin and Death.  Book III transports us to heaven again.  God, foreseeing the fall, sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve, so that their disobedience shall be upon their own heads.  Then the Son offers himself a sacrifice, to take away the sin of the coming disobedience of man.  At the end of this book Satan appears in a different scene, meets Uriel, the Angel of the Sun, inquires from him the way to earth, and takes his journey thither disguised as an angel of light.  Book IV shows us Paradise and the innocent state of