Paradise Regained by John Milton

PRIMARY SOURCE: Paradise Regain'd (pub. 1671)
Context

• Publication: Published by John Starkey by JM alongside Samson Agonistes. Licensed July 2 1670. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Most critics read PR to understand it in relation to the other poetic works of mature Milton. Critics also read PR to understand Milton's reaction to the restoration of the monarchy: Milton favors the son who rejects kingship. Critics understand Jesus' temptation for earthly power as analogous to the Puritans' own trouble establishing a zealous kingdom.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, history of religion.

Content

• Form: Blank verse, four books, roughly 500 lines each (2000 total).
• Genre: Epic, narrative poetry, religious disputation.
• Conceit/Plot: Satan struggles to subvert Jesus' life in the world. Jesus is baptized and Satan consults with the fallen angels: they decide to overthrow the new enemy. God and the angels know Satan will fail. Jesus meditates in the desert and refuses foreknowledge of his future. At the first time Jesus feels hunger, Satan--disguised as an old man--tempts him to turn stones to bread. Jesus calls out Satan, and they dispute self-justification. Satan's war council suggests tempting Jesus with women, but Satan instead decides to offer Jesus praise. Jesus dreams of the miraculous food given to Elijah, and when he wakes, Satan offers him food; Jesus refuses all gifts from Satan. Satan offers glorious conquest; Jesus favors piety over conquest and differs all glory to God. Satan offers freedom for the Jews; Jesus  differs all power to God. Satan offers Jesus the kingdoms of the world; Jesus refuses earthly empire. Satan offers Jesus the literature of Greece and Rome; Jesus prefers the literature of the Hebrews. Satan gives Jesus bad dreams and a storm, then takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and demands proof. Jesus refuses to tempt God, and Satan falls a second time. Angels serve Jesus a table of celestial food, and return Jesus to his mother's house.
• Other notes:
• Milton's Satan gives Jesus the choice of literature: classical or pious? Milton's Jesus chooses pious literature over the classics, offering an interesting complication of Norbrook's view of early modern humanism (that is, Norbrook argues Protestantism is a result of the application of classical humanist heuristics to religion).

(NB: Written with notes.)
Martin, Catherine Gimelli. "Paradise Regained." Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.