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Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
21
A very important
principle underlies
Milton’s portrayal of
Satan and the fallen
angels (and equally of
Dante’s portrayal of
Hell in the
Inferno),
namely, that as human
history unfolded, the
fallen angels who were
cast out of Heaven
became the pagan
deities and idols of Old
Testament history and
classical mythology.
Roll Call of Demons (lines 376–521)
Milton and his original readers knew both the
Bible and classical mythology better than most
people today know them. As a result, they relished
the excursion into the history of Old Testament
idols represented by this passage. Readers today
are free to decide how much attention they wish
to give to this passage. Even if we are unfamiliar
with the specific gods that Milton names, we can
read the passage to get a general impression of the
repulsive evil represented by the fallen demons.
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