A Preface to Paradise Lost

C. S. Lewis

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780063222144
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Literature & the Arts in Christianity

C. S. Lewis's illuminating reflections onMilton'sParadise Lost, the seminal classicthat profoundlyinfluencedChristian thought as well as Lewis's own.

In Preface to Paradise Lost, the Christian apologist andrevered scholar and professor of literatureclosely examines the style, content, structure, and themes ofMilton'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 storywithin the context of the Western literary tradition, Lewisoffersinvaluable insights intoParadise Lostand the nature of literature itself, unveiling the poem's beauty and its wisdom.

Lewis explains and defendsthe 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 stylethat are the hallmarks ofhiswriting, Lewis provides answers with a lucidity and lightness thatdeepens our understanding of this literary form and bothilluminatesMilton's immortalepic and its meaningand 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 mostreveredscholarly works, Preface to Paradise Lost is indispensable for literature, philosophy, and religion scholarsand for ardent fansof 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...