Paradise Lost Milton is widely considered to be one of the five greatest poets in the English language and Paradise Lost, a religious epic, is his greatest masterpiece. As stated in the beginning of the first book of Paradise Lost, Milton's intention for writing his religious epic is, among some other things, to justify the ways of God to men. Milton's audience, of course, is a fallen audience, like the narrator of the epic. Some …showed first 75 words of 468 total…

…showed last 75 words of 468 total…considerations. Man, as all of his other creations, was created pure, and also free - sufficient to have stood, but free to fall. Milton offered in Paradise Regained a sequel that provided much more hope. This shorter work deals with Christ's temptation in the wilderness. Milton's argument between the two is that while paradise was lost due to the failure of Adam and Eve to resist temptation, it was regained (partially) through Christ's successful resistance.