APPLE AND EVE - PARADISE LOST AND PARADISE REGAINED

 

Apple and Eve – Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
 


Sin - When did this begin? Where did this begin? Does it happen in the creative workshop of Yahova, Abba the Father, or in the Garden of Eden?





 

Let us begin with the inception of the human race. God created Adam, and from Adam’s rib he created Eve to give company to Adam. Adam was created in the image of God himself (Genesis 1:27). God smiled after being satisfied with his own creations, mankind.


The Original Sin   - Paradise Lost -




God gave immense joy and laughter to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve danced and played in the Garden of Eden, they listened to the song of chirping birds, and they enjoyed the flowing streams while they loved the flora and fauna. They ran across the steppes and meadows with joy, ate fruits when they were hungry and drank honey when they were thirsty, and lived without experiencing shame. The sun gave them bright light during the day, and the Moon kept vigil when they were asleep. Stars smiled at them from the sky.

  

There were many varieties of fruits to eat and enjoy, but God asked them to refrain from eating the fruit of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad” in the center of the Garden, which was an apple tree. The Bible says that Satan is a rebel and a fallen angel who was banished to hell. Satan (Lucifer), in the disguise of a serpent, tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. Eve was attracted by the beautiful apple tree and its delicious apples. Satan misinterpreted God by saying that God had denied the apple to you because if you ate the apple, you would become wise like God, and also you would have the knowledge of good and bad. Eve fell as a prey to Satan and his evil design, and accepted the apple from Satan and ate it, and offered some apples to Adam too. Adam realized it was the forbidden fruit. He clasped his throat in an attempt to spit it out, and the fruit stuck in his neck, to be known as Adam’s apple.

 

The punishment was to follow. God expelled them from the Garden of Eden to work hard and sweat it out on the Earth. They became conscious about their body and experienced shame, and started covering their genitals with fig leaves. The beginning of Haute Couture when fig leaves were replaced with camel skin.



Are women more prone to temptations than men? Does man have more control over his urges and impulses? Though the matter is debatable in this modern scientific era, where equal rights for women are being discussed in every walk of life.

 

God cursed women that they would experience labor pain while giving birth to their progeny, and they would be subject to man. The Bible shows male supremacy by citing that men do the hard work, and they are strongly built compared to the slender and supple frame of women.


However, the paradise is not lost to women because they experience the real joy of the world while breastfeeding their baby, wherein they completely forget the excruciating delivery pain. The man derives immense satisfaction in his quest for victory in whatever he does and achieves in life.








 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Is the loss of Paradise a curse to man or an instrument to propel his physical and mental prowess to come to the forefront?. Is a life wherein everything is in abundance and no need to sweat or dream, really ideal? Is the ideology of mate and make merry the coveted life’s doctrine for men and women? Each and every small or big achievement gives humans immense satisfaction. We must know that there is no gain without pain. Happiness is a state of mind, and wealth provides him with financial security. The happiness God offers to humans is not measurable. The rich and poor both experience the measure of joy even in the smallest of things. The man’s desire to outplay and outsmart others to amass material goods is well-known. The survival of the fittest distinguishes the strengths and weaknesses of human beings. Man uses his intelligence to reign supreme and remain enviable in the world. The paradise is not lost when man regained it in the world through his intellectual and physical prowess.

 

 

Adam died at the age of 930 years. However, with the passage of time, the mortality rate has fallen rapidly to the current 125 years.

 

Paradise Lost and its sequel Paradise Regained are a collection of poems by 17th-century English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608-November 8, 1674). Paradise Lost, when published in 1667, had 10 books with over ten thousand lines of verse. Milton was one of the greatest poets of his time. He was regarded as the greatest English poet and statesman after William Shakespeare.

 
                   

 

Milton is best known for his work “Paradise Lost” (1667), which is an epic poem in English.

Milton was born to Sarah Jeffery and John Milton Sr. in a prosperous London family.

Milton married thrice and had 3 daughters and a son from his marriage with Mary Powel.

Milton got a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge in 1632. Milton’s poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Greek, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1664) – written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship – is among history’s most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and freedom of the press.

 
 

Milton read both ancient and modern works of theology, philosophy, history, politics, literature, and science in preparation for a prospective career as a poet. As a result of this intensive study, Milton is considered to be amongst the most learned of all English poets. In addition to his years of private study, Milton had command of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian from his school and undergraduate days; he also added Old English to his linguistic repertoire in the 1650s while researching his History of Britain and probably acquired proficiency in Dutch soon after.



Pastoral Elegies – Lycidas by John Milton














 
 

He contributed his pastoral elegy Lycidas to a memorial collection for one of his Cambridge classmates. Pastoralism in literature is an attitude in which the writer looks at life from the point of view of a shepherd. Pastoral elegy has its own conventions passed down from generation to generation. The pastoral poet begins by invoking the Muses and goes on referring to other figures from classical mythology. There are mourners of death in all pastoral elegies. With the curious mixture of pagan loveliness and Christian austerity, Lycidas becomes the offspring of Milton’s unparalleled genius. Though there were other protagonists for pastoralism, it was John Milton, the scintillating star in the firmament of pastoralism.

 
 
Drafts of his poem are preserved in Milton’s poetry notebook, known as the Trinity manuscript because it is now kept at Trinity College, Cambridge.


 

 

         




 
                  



Milton’s Cottage in London                                            
                                                                          Berkyn Manor Farm where Milton lived 1632-1638.  
  

Paradise Regained  -  John Milton

Paradise Regained is a sequel to John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost and has four books in the sequel. In Paradise Lost, Milton began his history of sin and redemption by telling the story of the fallen angel Lucifer (Satan) and the loss of innocence through Adam and Eve’s Original Sin and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Regained retells Luke’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert by Satan. Satan has observed Christ’s baptism and heard the announcement from heaven that he is the Son of God. Satan calls a Council of Devils and resolves to corrupt Jesus as he did Adam. In the wilderness, Satan, disguised as an old man, confronts Jesus. Posing as Jesus’ friend and advisor, Satan tempts Jesus by telling him to turn the stones into food. Jesus, however, sees through Satan’s disguise and says that man lives by God’s word and not by bread. Superior to both physical and spiritual temptations, Jesus overcomes Satan and redeems humankind from its fallen state caused when Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation.

 

Milton abandoned his campaign for legitimized divorce in 1645, but he expressed support for polygamy in the De Doctrina Christiana, the theological treatise that provides the clearest evidence for his views.

 

Milton met many prominent people during his visit to Italy, including Galileo. Milton had a lifelong fascination with Science and Scientific discoveries. Book VIII of Paradise Lost mentions the telescope and deals with planetary motions.

 
 
 

Milton’s magnum opus, the blank-verse epic poem “Paradise Lost,” was composed by him from 1658 to 1664. Milton gradually lost his eyesight and became totally blind during his last days. Milton has written a poem about blindness after losing eyesight.

He dictated his work to his three daughters and another assistant after losing his sight.

Milton’s monism is most notably reflected in Paradise Lost, where angels are depicted as engaging in sexual intercourse, and in the De Doctrina Christiana, where he denies the dual nature of man and argues for a theory of creation.

 

By 1700, Paradise Lost was recognized as one of the classics of English literature.


Milton’s major works –
 
Poetry and Drama -

·         L ‘Allegro
·         Penseroso
·         A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle
·         Lycidas
·         Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin
·         On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
·         Paradise Lost
·         Paradise Regained
·         Samson Agonistes
·         Poems and Upon Several Occasions









Prose

 

Man found happiness in the world and pursued his skills and expertise to regain the lost paradise. Man really achieved the lost and found horizon of joy in the world. The loss of paradise was a blessing in disguise for humanity, as it allowed it to recreate something similar in the universe.

 

A person able to distinguish between good and bad has created history in the form of legendary, great, and genius people and their inventions and innovations.



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