Paradise Lost But My Paradise Found

I am a bit torn about how I feel about Paradise Lost so far. Along with most other people in the world, no doubt, I become very hesitant when I come face to face with a piece of poetry. Especially long poetry in the form of a book. However, it is the content itself that has me interested. I love religion. I love learning about different religions, and having debates about religion. Unlike most who squirm at the thought of talking about religion for fear of offending others and creating conflict, I actually enjoy discussing different beliefs and opinions. I think it's fascinating. So, the fact that Paradise Lost discusses Satan’s “loss of paradise” (a.k.a Heaven) after he and a large amount of his fellow Angels rebelled against God caused me to approach this reading with more of an open mind than I probably normally would have with poetry.

Paradise Lost caused me to consider things I had not thought of in a very long time. Questions continued to pop into my mind such as “Why did Satan and his followers decide to rebel against God?” and “If God is omnipotent, why did He not put an end to the rebellion or stop Eve from eating the apple before she did it?” However, Milton later reveals that God knew all along how everything was going to unfold and did not stop it because the betrayals were part of His plan creating an entire new level of fascination for me.

The title Paradise Lost also refers to Adam and Eve losing the their “paradise” on earth. In the “first act of disobedience against God”, Satan tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. His seduction led to everything bad found in the world now: death, sickness and disease, fear, and pain.

I think this is very interesting. Just the fact that an act so simple as eating an apple can cause so many problems. Just think about it, think about all the times you were tempted into doing something you knew you shouldn't have. Think about all the times you thought “It will be ok. It's nothing big. It won't matter.” That's exactly what Eve thought and look at what happened. It kind of puts things into perspective for me. It just shows that everything you do has some kind of effect on either you or those around you, even the things you think couldn't possibly make a difference in any way.

All in all, I think, just from reading the beginning of Book 1, Paradise Lost has the potential to be great and actually hold my attention. I must admit that I am excited to continue reading it.