A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF JOHN MILTON’S WORK WITH THE PREDECESSORS

Abstract

John Milton is one of the most important and influential poets in English Literature.Paradise Lost is an epic poem and considered master piece of John Milton. In the first twenty-six lines of the poem, Milton has tried to make his relationship to his predecessors like Homer, Virgil, and Hesiod. He openly acknowledges that he was aware of the muses from which his predecessors were inspired and by providing an epic poem to the English language, he intends to become the part of this club. But, the purpose of Milton seems to be much broader that this intention. His muse is the Holy Spirit rather the nine Muses. The nature of the study is descriptive and purpose of this article is to find out the similarities between John Milton, Homer and Hesiod‟s work because Paradise Lost is the imitation of Homer and Hesiod‟s work but the Biblical allusions and the portrayal of the antagonist as the hero make Milton a unique figure in the long literary traditions.