A Preface to Paradise Lost

C. S. Lewis's fascinating views on Milton's Paradise Lost, the seminal classic that profoundly inspired both Christian thought and Lewis's own.

In Preface to Paradise Lost, the Christian apologist and famous scholar and professor of literature meticulously explores Milton's masterpiece, a recounting of the biblical tale of the Fall of Humankind, Satan's temptation, and Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden. When seen in the framework of the Western literary tradition, Lewis provides essential insights into Paradise Lost and the nature of literature itself, revealing the poem's beauty and wisdom.

Lewis analyses and defends the literary form known as "Epic," pondering basic yet insightful questions like, "What is an Epic?" Why did Milton chose to write his novel in this manner in the seventeenth century? In what ways does Paradise Lost resemble Homer's poems or the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf? In what ways did Milton further Virgil's legacy? 

Lewis delivers answers with a lucidity and lightness that deepens our comprehension of this literary form and both clarifies Milton's immortal epic and its meaning and invites readers to reread it, with the clarity of thought and style that are characteristics of his writing. Finally, he reminds us of why aspects such as ceremony, magnificence, and joy deserve to exist and have 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.