A Preface to Paradise Lost

C. S. Lewis

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780063222137
• eBook ISBN: 9780063222144
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Art Theory & Criticism

C. S. Lewis’s illuminating reflections on Milton’s Paradise Lost, the seminal classic that profoundly influenced Christian thought as well as Lewis’s own.

In Preface to Paradise Lost, the Christian apologist and revered scholar and professor of literature closely examines the style, content, structure, and themes of Milton’s masterpiece, a retelling of the biblical story of the Fall of Humankind, Satan’s temptation, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Considering the story within the context of the Western literary tradition, Lewis offers invaluable insights into Paradise Lost and the nature of literature itself, unveiling the poem’s beauty and its wisdom.

Lewis explains and defends the literary form known as “Epic,” pondering simple yet perceptive questions such as: What is an Epic? Why, in the seventeenth century, did Milton choose to write his story in this style? In what sense is Paradise Lost similar to the Homeric poems or the Anglo Saxon Beowulf? In what sense did Milton develop Virgil’s legacy? 

With the clarity of thought and style that are the hallmarks of his writing, Lewis provides answers with a lucidity and lightness that deepens our understanding of this literary form and both illuminates Milton’s immortal epic and its meaning and inspires readers to revisit it. Ultimately, he reminds us why elements including ritual, splendor, and joy deserve to exist and hold a sacred place in human life. 

One of Lewis’s most revered scholarly works, Preface to Paradise Lost is indispensable for literature, philosophy, and religion scholars and for ardent fans of Lewis’s writings. 

Index

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Abdiel, 96, 120

Abrabanel, 93

Adam and Eve, 105, 145–52, 157–61

Addison, 89–90

Akenside, 76

Alchymy, 76

Alcuin, 19

Alph, 63

Amadis, 7

Amara, 54

Ambrose, St., 147

Apocalypse, The, 5

Apple, The, 86–7

Aquinas, 111, 136

Arcadia, The, 102

Arianism, 108

Aries, 175

Ariosto, 7

Aristotle, 4, 6, 7–8, 67, 72 n., 92–3

Arthuriad, 8

Asmodeus, 55

Athanasius, St., 146

Atonement, 113

Attitudes, 68–9

Auden, W. H., 12, 13

Augustine, St., 83–90, 107, 147, 153

Barfield, Owen, 29

Bates, Miss (in Emma), 117, 128

Bede, 18

Beelzebub, 127, 133

Beethoven, 21

Begot, 108

Belial, 131

Bentley, Muriel, 129

Beowulf, 16–24, 25, 32, 33, 35–40

Bernadus Silvestris, 55

Binyon, Laurence, 146

Blake, 118

Bodkin, Maud, 60

Boethius, 107

Boiardo, 7

Browne, Sir Thomas, 107

Burton, 139

Cædmon, 18–19

Callimachus, 5

Canticles, 5, 175

Ceremonie, 65 (and see under Solemnity)

Chadwick, Professor, 37

Chaucer, 19

Chesterton, G. K., 81

Christ, 105, 113–14, 165

Cinderella, 90

Coleridge, 154

Comus, V, 8, 102, 139

Constellations, 174

Creed, The Nicene, 105

Cupid and Psyche, 90

Daniel, Samuel, 173

Dante, 9, 80, 102, 143, 147, 166

Darbishire, Helen, 4

De Doctrina Christiana, 103–16

Devil, 124

Descartes, 138

Dickens, 19, 112

Discipline, 100

Divine Comedy, The, 102

Donne, 57, 71, 74, 93, 136, 152, 174

Dryden, 118

Dry Salvages, The, 76

Eliot, T. S., 11–13, 76, 172

Enna, 54

Ennius, 42

Equal, 174

Ezekiel, 63

Faerie Queene, The, 102

Ficino, 137

Finnsburg Fragment, The, 19

Fletcher, The Rev. R. F. W., 174

Galahad, 172

Galileo, 55

Gawain and the Green Knight, 21, 149

Giving to Death, 173

Gods, 106

Goethe, 31, 38

Gower, 175

Grierson, Sir Herbert, 108 n.

Handel, 58

Hengest, 37

Hermes Trismegist...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• I. Epic Poetry
• II. Is Criticism Possible?
• III. Primary Epic
• IV. The Technique of Primary Epic
• V. The Subject of Primary Epic
• VI. Virgil and the Subject of Secondary Epic
• VII. The Style of Secondary Epic
• VIII. Defence of This Style
• IX. The Doctrine of the Unchanging Human Heart
• X. Milton and St. Augustine
• XI. Hierarchy
• XII. The Theology of Paradise Lost
• XIII. Satan
• XIV. Satan’s Followers
• XV. The Mistake About Milton’s Angels
• XVI. Adam and Eve
• XVII. Unfallen Sexuality
• XVIII. The Fall
• XIX. Conclusion
• Appendix
• Index
• About the Author
• Copyright
• About the Publisher