e meets in the public world. . . . The matter inside the poet wants the Form: in submitting to the Form it becomes really original, really the origin of great work. (3) In addition to the epic characteristics of Paradise Lost, the so-called epic conventions outlined earlier are also present. Certainly Milton begins by stating his theme: the entire story of salvation is summarized in the opening twenty-six lines, and the purpose of the epic, to "justify the ways of God to men," is stated in line twenty-six. (All references to the poem itself are from Merritt Y. Hughes' edition of the complete works.) Milton also opens his narrative "in medias res"; he begins by asking how Adam and Eve could have fallen. Who could have caused it? And then we meet an already fallen Satan; it is only in Book VI that the War in Heaven is actually described. Milton also invokes a Muse (lines 1-26) to inspire and instruct him, as was traditional. E. R. Gregory, in his article on the use of the muses in Paradise Lost, discusses the use of Clio as muse and the pairing of Clio and Urania. He includes an examination of associated iconography of the muses in the history of epic poetry. Other of the conventions are likewise present. Milton carefully includes a catalogue of the fallen angels (lines 376-505). He also provides extended formal speeches by the main characters: see, for example, lines 84-124, 157-91, 242-70, and 622-62 for major speeches by Satan in Book I. It is on the basis of the eloquence and power of those speeches that much of the claim for Satan's position as 'hero' is based. Finally, Milton makes frequent use of the epic simile. Four major examples are of interest in Book I; they include the simile of the sea monster (lines 192+), the autumnal leaves (lines 300+), the son/sun (lines 594+), and the swarming bees (lines 768+). Linda Gregerson points out that "the Miltonic similes portray knowledge as problematic; they do not suggest we throw away t...
