returned paradise

John Milton created the poem “Returned Paradise” in the final period of his work, in the late 1660s. Being blind, he dictated the text to his friends and daughter. The first edition of the book, published in 1671, also contained the text of the play Samson the Wrestler . Milton dictated the text of Paradise Returned at his estate in Buckinghamshire .

There is a legend about the idea of ​​the poem, according to which a Quaker named Thomas Ellwood, after reading the poem “Lost Paradise”, turned to Milton with the words: “You described how paradise was lost, but what can you say about how paradise was found? ". Hearing this, Milton at first fell into thought, but after a while showed Elwood a new manuscript called "Returned Paradise" ^[1] .

In Russia, Milton's works became known already from the middle of the 18th century and found a warm response among Russian writers. A.N. Radishchev put Milton's name on a par with Shakespeare and Homer . The first translation of Paradise Returned into Russian was a prosaic translation from the French Archbishop Ambrose (Serebrennikov) , who was released in 1803, after the death of Ambrose ^[2] . In Russia, Milton’s poem was repeatedly reprinted in the 19th century (almost constantly - along with Lost Paradise), after which it was reprinted only in the 21st century. A new translation of the poem was made in 2000 by S. A. Alexandrovsky .

The poem consists of 4 books (compared to the 12 books of Paradise Lost) and is a story about how Satan tried to seduce Jesus Christ . Milton in the poem focuses on the image of Christ. If Adam and Eve in “Paradise Lost” could not resist the temptation , then Jesus is more resistant to temptation . For Milton, Jesus is an ideal citizen. Despite loneliness, widespread misunderstanding, Jesus finds the strength to resist the evil that reigns in the world, and does not step back from his principles, thanks to which he defeats Satan and saves humanity.

According to literary scholars, “Returned Paradise” is a weaker work compared to “ Lost Paradise ”, which is disadvantageously distinguished by abstractness and religious moralistic intonations. “Returned Paradise” reflects the evolution of Milton’s views on the path and the mechanisms of social progress. In particular, the work bears the mark of a certain disappointment in the expediency and possibility of a political revolution . This is seen as the influence of Quakerism , where the most active forces of the Puritan revolution have gone, and the main idea of ​​the “Returned Paradise” comes from here - clarifying the paths of the coming revolution as a spiritual transformation of man. This task is embodied in the victory of Christ over the adversary - Satan, who is the atonement for the fall of Adam and Eve, in other words - for the mistakes of the revolution. Milton did not abandon the dream of “a new society”: in “Paradise Returned”, Christ establishes the “kingdom of God” on earth, and not in heaven, that is, he performs a certain political action. But this action is not violence, but enlightenment and persuasion, refusal to fight. At the same time, Milton did not give up his philosophical views and political sympathies: in The Returned Paradise there are elements of materialism and, to an even greater extent, a departure from official Christianity . Christ for Milton is only a great man (Greater Man), an ideal man-citizen, symbolizing the "chosen" representatives of the future revolution who defeated the forces of reaction. Despite loneliness, widespread misunderstanding, Christ of Milton finds the strength to resist the evil that reigns in the world, and does not back down from his principles. Milton’s Satan appears as a kind of allegory of the noble restoration and is generously endowed with the traits of Charles I - treachery, duplicity and cunning.

• Lost heaven
• Milton in the Russian common culture of the XVIII — XIX centuries

• Gorbunov A.N. Poetry of John Milton (From Pastoral to Epic) // Milton J. Paradise Lost. Returned Paradise. Other poetry / Ed. prepared by A. N. Gorbunov, T. Yu. Stamova. - M .: Nauka, 2006 .-- S. 581-647. - 862 s. - ( Literary monuments ). - ISBN 5-02-033240-2 .
• Northrop Frye, The Return to Eden: Five Essays on Milton's Epics (Toronto: Toronto UP, 1965).
• Introduction to Paradise Regained , in The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton , ed. William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen M. Fallon (New York: Modern Library, 2007).
• Barbara Lewalski, Milton's Brief Epic: The Genre, Meaning, and Art of Paradise Regained (Providence: Brown UP, 1966).
• Susanne Woods, introduction to Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained , published by Signet Classics.

• Returned Paradise in the Gutenberg Project .
• E-text from the John Milton Reading Room
• http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/arts/lit/preg_gm.htm "Symbolism in Paradise Regained "