Paradise Lost in summary

"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."

I find it truly fascinating that Milton sums up all twelve book in the first few lines of the epic. What this does is foreshadow all of the events of the epic and pull the reader into how each of the events summarized, come to be.

Additonally, the idea of the serpant and the apple may be common knowledge, but the conversations between Satan and his minions were particulary interesting. In fact, I found them to be more interesting than the conversation between God and His Son. I found the dialogue where the fallen angels discuss the manner by which they plan to assert their own power, away from God, to be particulary noteworthy. Whether to begin all out war, or to establish authority through evil.