Poetry: Paradise Regained

Overview
John Milton's Paradise Regained (1671) is a compact epic that retells the Gospel account of Christ's temptation in the wilderness. Concentrated and disciplined, the poem traces how Jesus resists Satan's offers of material power, fame, and religious compromise, thereby reversing the fall of man and securing spiritual restoration. The title signals recovery of the lost divine purpose through obedience and inner strength rather than military or political triumph.

Structure and Style
Written in blank verse across four books, Paradise Regained adopts the epic framework while stripping away much of the grandiose ornamentation characteristic of earlier epics. The language is terse and rhetorical, favoring direct dialogue and argumentative speeches over sprawling similes and narrative digressions. Milton pares the epic apparatus to foreground moral and theological inquiry, producing a concentrated poetic drama that privileges reasoned persuasion and scriptural allusion.

Plot and Characters
The poem opens after Christ's baptism, with him fasting in the wilderness and Satan plotting to subvert the divine mission. Satan appears in a variety of guises and stages three principal temptations: the appeal to bodily hunger and miraculous proof, the bait of temporal power and empire, and the distortion of religious authority to elicit worship. Jesus, calm and resolute, rebuts each temptation by citing Scripture and exemplifying patient obedience. Angels and minor figures furnish brief commentary, but the action revolves tightly around the dialectic between tempter and tempted.

Themes and Theology
Central themes include redemption through obedience, the nature of true vocation, and the contrast between external power and inward sovereignty. The poem frames Christ as the "second Adam," whose steadfastness undoes Adam's disobedience and restores the possibility of reconciliation with God. Milton emphasizes spiritual fortitude over worldly success, arguing that legitimate "kingdoms" are moral and spiritual, not merely political. The temptations are presented not only as personal trials but as tests of the right use of Scripture, leadership, and the proper ends of human desire.

Language and Imagery
Imagery in Paradise Regained is restrained yet forceful, turning on biblical motifs, desert austerity, and rhetorical antithesis. Milton employs prophetic diction and terse moral epigrams rather than the lush descriptive passages familiar from Paradise Lost. Where the earlier epic luxuriated in cosmic panoramas, this poem uses concentrated scenes and pointed debates to make ethical and theological claims. Satan's rhetoric is often ornate and seductive, intentionally contrasting with Christ's measured, scripturally grounded speech.

Comparative Focus
The poem intentionally echoes and answers Paradise Lost by reversing its tragic arc: where the first epic dramatized the fall and dispersal from Eden, the second centers on restoration through humility and obedience. The comparison sharpens Milton's exploration of liberty, duty, and rightful authority; Christ's victory is moral rather than martial, demonstrating that true dominion arises from submissive fidelity to God's will rather than conquest or coercion.

Reception and Legacy
Critics and readers have long debated Paradise Regained's austerity and moral intensity. Some praise its disciplined focus and theological clarity, while others miss the imaginative excesses of Milton's earlier epic. Scholarly appreciation has grown for its compressed power, rhetorical mastery, and ethical seriousness, and it is often read alongside Samson Agonistes as a late-career pairing that explores suffering, obedience, and the nature of divine deliverance. The poem has endured as a concentrated meditation on the redemptive possibilities of steadfast virtue.