"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..." The poem treats of Satan's revolt in heaven, of his conflict with the Almighty, and banishment with all the rebellious angels. Their new home in the land of fire and endless pain is described with such a gigantic grasp of the imagination, that the conception has colored all succeeding theology. The action proceeds with a council of the fallen angels to devise means for alleviating their condition and annoying the Almighty. They decide to strike him through his child, and they plot the fall of man. In short, _Paradise Lost_ is an intensely dramatic story of the loss of Eden. The greatest actors that ever sprang from a poet's brain appear before us on the stage, which is at one time the sulphurous pit of hell, at another the bright plains of heaven, and at another the Elysium of our first parents. In form the poem is an epic in twelve books, containing a total of 10,565 lines. It is written in blank verse of wonderful melody and variety. Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.--After finishing _Paradise Lost_, Milton wrote two more poems, which he published in 1671. _Paradise Regained_ is in great part a paraphrase of the first eleven verses of the fourth chapters of _St. Matthew_. The poem is in four books of blank verse and contains 2070 lines. Although it is written with great art and finish, _Paradise Regained_ shows a falling off in Milton's genius. There is less ornament and less to arouse human interest. _Samson Agonistes_ (Samson the Struggler) is a tragedy containing 1758 lines, based on the sixteenth chapter of _Judges_. This poem, modeled after the Greek drama, is hampered by a strict observance of the dramatic unities. It is vastly inferior to the _Paradise Lost. Samson Agonistes_ contains scarcely any of the glorious imagery of Milton's earlier poems. It has been called "the most unadorned poem that can be found." CHARACTERISTICS OF MILTON'S POETRY Variety in his Early Work.--A line in _Lycidas_ says:-- "He touched the tender stops of various quills," and this may be said of Milton. His early poems show great variety. There are the dirge notes in _Lycidas_; the sights, sounds, and odors of the country, in _L'Allegro_; the delights of "the studious cloister's pale," in _Il Penseroso_; the impelling presence of his "great Task-Master," in the sonnets.