Who wrote the epic poem "Paradise Lost"?

John Milton wrote the epic poem "Paradise Lost." The poem was first published in 1667 and retells the biblical story of Satan's rebellion, the temptation of Adam and Eve, and humanity's expulsion from Eden.

The first edition contained ten books, but Milton revised the poem for a second edition in 1674, reorganising it into twelve books. It is written in blank verse: unrhymed lines that generally use iambic pentameter. Milton adapted classical epic conventions, including an invocation, an in medias res opening, supernatural conflict, and extended speeches, for a Christian subject.

Milton had become blind by 1652 and composed much of the poem by dictating it to assistants, including family members and amanuenses. The work explores free will, obedience, temptation, justice, and redemption. Satan's powerful rhetoric has made him one of literature's most debated characters, although the poem ultimately presents the Fall within a larger theological story of salvation.

Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, John Dryden was a major poet and dramatist, and John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress. None was the author of Paradise Lost.