Educational Background of John Milton

• Privately tutored at an early age
• Influenced by the Protestant teachings of his mentors and the priests of his local church
• Educated at St. Paul's school where he would by and be influenced by St. Paul's church
• Went to Christ's College in Cambridge, influenced further by the religious views of his mentors there
• Received a bachelor's degree in 1629
• Received a master's of arts degree in 1632 and graduated cum laude
• After graduating, travelled Europe absorbing knowledge of more catholic christianity and current politics
• After returning to England, began to teach and tutor
• During the English Civil War, Milton was active in politics by writing pamphlets for Smectymnuus, a group who had a former tutor of his, Thomas Young, as a member.

Paradise Lost's influence on other works

• Star Wars Episode III plot was based of of the fall of Satan from grace (Anakin Skywalker)
• Mary Shelley was influenced  by the book in writing Frankenstein. Her monster also read the book as part of his phycological development.
• Much of William Blake's poetry is heavily influenced or a direct rewrite of parts of Paradise Lost.
• Many bands have been influenced by the book's story and have incorporated parts of it into song.
•  The young-adult fiction trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman has a plot based on Paradise Lost and has a title that is taken from a part of the book.
• Dozens of paintings and drawings from famous painters are based off of scenes described in Paradise Lost.
• The role of the devil changed from one of a monster to a charismatic speaker with a silver tongue is first displayed in Paradise Lost and is later adapted and expanded by other works.

Memorable quotes from Paradise Lost

• "The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n."- Satan
• "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"- Satan
• “So dear I love him that with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life.” - Eve
• "Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe," (l.1-26)
• "…who overcomes, By force, hath overcome but half his foe." (1:648-649)

Influences on the composition of Paradise Lost

• Milton was highly educated in other cultures, christian religion, and in other languages. 
• There was great turmoil in England at the time as the English civil war was concluded in 1651 and initial writing of Paradise Lost would have taken place at the time. 
• Like other Renaissance works, Paradise Lost has many themes that question the authority of the Catholic Church. 
• It takes the same divisional style of writing found in Virgil's Aeneid in that it was revised to twelve books.
• Predominately, the book takes the stories of the Old Testament (especially Adam and Eve) and adds western mythology to expand some parts of his mythos regarding certain events.

Thoughts on the book

My initial reaction to this book was that it would be rather boring yet a relatively simplistic read. once reading it however, it became one of my most enjoyable reads as it was thought provoking and gives a new dimension to the story of Adam and Eve and also the role Satan plays as the antagonist to God's creation. Unlike other stories that state that Satan is a fallen angel, this book describes how and what lead to Satan's fall from angelic power. This also gives a new perspective of Satan himself as you see what lengths he is willing to go to in his quest to cause sin in God's new world. The story of Adam and Eve also gives more of a redeeming factor to Eve as she was the first to sin but Adam knowingly followed her sin. Many other literatures, especially in medieval Europe, regarding this story in the Bible often make Eve as the one who caused the banishment of humanity from Eden yet in Paradise Lost Eve is tricked into sinning while Adam knowingly sins.