Dictated by a blind John Milton between 1658 and 1663, first published by Samuel Simmons in 1667 in ten books, and reorganized into twelve books on the model of Virgil's Aeneid in 1674.
Opens in medias res with Satan and the rebel angels rallying in Pandæmonium after their defeat by the Son of God in the three-day Angelic War in Heaven.
Interweaves Satan's voyage through Chaos to tempt Eve at the Tree of Knowledge with the Archangel Michael's vision of human history as Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden.