Paradise Lost (Book I, Opening) by John Milton

Full Text

Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That, to the height of this great argument,
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.

Overview

The opening of Paradise Lost is a single sentence that runs for sixteen lines before reaching its main verb: "Sing." This is deliberate. Milton is announcing that his poem will operate on a scale that requires new syntax — sentences that span entire paragraphs, subordinate clauses that carry theological arguments, and a delayed gratification that mirrors the poem's own subject: the long wait between the Fall and redemption. The sentence structure enacts the content: you must hold the meaning of "Man's first disobedience" in suspension until the Muse arrives to make sense of it. The passage does three things simultaneously. First, it states the subject: the Fall of Man and the promise of restoration through Christ ("one greater Man"). Second, it invokes the Muse — but not the classical Muse of Homer or Virgil. Milton calls on the Holy Spirit, "that, on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire / That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed." Moses is the precedent, not Homer. Third, it declares ambition: the poem intends to "soar / Above th' Aonian mount" (Helicon, home of the classical Muses) and pursue "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." Milton is claiming to surpass all previous poetry, sacred and secular. The final line — "And justify the ways of God to men" — echoes but corrects Pope's later "vindicate the ways of God to Man." Milton's word is "justify": to demonstrate justice, not merely to defend.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-5

"Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree" — the subject is stated immediately: this poem is about the Fall. "Fruit" is both literal (the apple) and metaphorical (the consequence). "Whose mortal taste / Brought death into the World, and all our woe" — "mortal taste" means a taste that introduced mortality. "All our woe" is comprehensive — every human suffering traces to this moment. "With loss of Eden, till one greater Man / Restore us" — Christ is introduced in line 4 as the solution, meaning the entire arc from Fall to Redemption is present in the opening sentence.

Lines 6-10

"Sing, Heavenly Muse" — the main verb, delayed until line 6. This is the invocation: Milton asks the Muse to sing through him. But this Muse is biblical, not classical. She inspired Moses ("That shepherd") on "Oreb, or of Sinai" to write Genesis ("In the beginning how the heavens and earth / Rose out of Chaos"). Milton's precedent is scripture, not Homer. By choosing Moses over the Greek bards, Milton claims biblical authority for his project.

Lines 11-16

"I thence / Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song" — Milton inserts himself: "I." The poem will soar "Above th' Aonian mount" — Mount Helicon, home of the Greek Muses. Milton claims to surpass classical poetry. "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme" — borrowed from Ariosto but given new weight: no one has done what this poem will do. The ambition is staggering but stated as fact, not hope.

Lines 17-22

"And chiefly thou, O Spirit" — a second invocation, this time to the Holy Spirit directly. The Spirit "dost prefer / Before all temples th' upright heart and pure" — God lives in the righteous heart, not in buildings. "With mighty wings outspread, / Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, / And mad'st it pregnant" — the Spirit at Creation, hovering over the deep (Genesis 1:2). "Brooding" carries both meanings: meditating and incubating. The Spirit made the Abyss fertile — creation is a birth.

Lines 23-26

"What in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raise and support" — Milton's personal confession of inadequacy. He is dark and low; the Spirit must illuminate and elevate him. "That, to the height of this great argument, / I may assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men" — the poem's thesis statement. "Argument" means subject matter. "Justify" means to demonstrate the justice of — Milton will show that God's actions, including permitting the Fall, are just. This is theodicy: the defense of God in the face of evil.

Themes

• The Fall and promised Redemption as a single arc
• The poet's ambition to surpass all previous literature
• Biblical authority versus classical tradition
• Theodicy — justifying God's ways to humanity
• The Holy Spirit as source of poetic inspiration
• Creation as birth from chaos
• The poet's darkness needing divine illumination

Literary Devices

Epic Invocation

"Sing, Heavenly Muse" — Milton follows the epic tradition of invoking the Muse at the start, but replaces the classical Muses with the Holy Spirit. This signals that Paradise Lost is both an epic poem and a theological work — the conventions are classical, the authority is biblical.

Enjambment (Radical)

"Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste / Brought death into the World" — The sentence runs across line breaks without pause, forcing the reader to hold multiple ideas in suspension. The delayed main verb ("Sing" in line 6) is the most extreme example — the reader must wait six lines for the sentence to begin making grammatical sense.

Allusion

"on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire / That shepherd" — Moses received the Law on Sinai and encountered the burning bush on Horeb (Oreb). Milton identifies Moses as his poetic predecessor — the first writer inspired by the same Spirit Milton now invokes.

Hyperbole

"Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme" — Milton claims no writer in any form has attempted what he is about to do. This is borrowed from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso but given greater weight — Milton means it literally. No poem has tried to justify God's entire plan for humanity.

Paradox

"what in me is dark / Illumine, what is low raise and support" — The poet of the greatest ambition in English literature confesses darkness and lowness. The paradox is structural: the poem's height depends on the poet's humility. Milton cannot reach the divine without admitting he starts from the human.

Imagery of Birth

"Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, / And mad'st it pregnant" — Creation is reimagined as conception and gestation. The Spirit "broods" (incubates) over the Abyss and makes it "pregnant" with the world. This makes creation intimate and organic rather than mechanical — God didn't build the world, he birthed it.

Historical Context

Milton published Paradise Lost in 1667, when he was 58, blind, and politically disgraced. He had served as Latin Secretary under Cromwell's Commonwealth and narrowly escaped execution at the Restoration in 1660. The poem was dictated to amanuenses (scribes) because Milton had been completely blind since 1652. He received five pounds for the first edition. The epic's ambition — to "justify the ways of God to men" — must be read against Milton's personal situation: a man who had watched his political cause destroyed, lost his sight, and buried two wives, still insisting that God's plan was just.