Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the
17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in
ten books; a second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in
the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions
throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the
Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the
fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's
purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate
the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.