Exploring a Passage in John Milton’s Paradise Lost Paradise Lost,reaches out and pulls in references and allusions to other literary works, making it Milton’s most influential piece of literary work. The writing echoes primary epic and the epic’s elevated language of describing people and events in great detail and in super realistic terms. Primary epic often uses nature as a simile, as with the line, “Thick with autumnal leaves that strew …showed first 75 words of 575 total…

…showed last 75 words of 575 total…corrupt the innocence of Adam and Eve. To supplement this evil, Milton uses strong language such as “vexed” and “fierce.” He uses word combinations to describe the physical and the ethereal. For example, “Perfidious hatred” is used to describe the motivation behind the pursuit of the Hebrew children in the Exodus. By using strong language and similes to nature, Milton has established in his descriptions, an epic tradition. Bibliography The Oxford Anthology of English Literature