What are the epic qualities in Paradise Lost?

John Milton (1608-1674), English poet, whose rich, dense verse was a powerful influence on succeeding English poets, and whose prose was devoted to the defense of civil and religious liberty. Milton is often considered the greatest English poet after Shakespeare. His masterpiece, Paradise Lost, is considered unsurpassed among English epic poems. It is a powerfully imaginative and dramatic work, based in part on the biblical story of the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Paradise Lost is considered Milton's masterpiece and one of the greatest poems in world literature. It is written in 12 books that vividly tell the story of Satan's rebellion against God and his tempting of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. The poet's announced aim was to "justify the ways of God to men," although Satan holds center stage in the first four books and for many readers emerges as the most interesting figure in the poem. But Satan's heroism, which is genuine within its limits, serves finally to set off the greater heroism of Christ and Adam. The last part of the poem systematically degrades Satan, and it is precisely because Adam does not react to his fall as Satan does to his that the Fall can be thought of as fortunate.