John Milton's Paradise Lost

This was an impressive reciting I came upon from Paradise Lost. It is not known exactly when John Milton actually wrote his epic poem Paradise Lost, though many scholars guess that it was written in London around 1650-1660.

John Milton was born in London in 1608 (seven and a half years before the death of Shakespeare and must now be counted one of the most significant writers and thinkers of all time.

Milton's Paradise Lost contains two related stories: one of Satan and another of Adam and Eve. Lucifer's story is a homage to the old epics of warfare. It begins after Lucifer and the other rebel angels have been defeated and cast down by God into Hell. In Pandaemonium, Lucifer must employ his rhetorical ability to organize his followers; he is aided by his lieutenants Mammon and Beelzebub.

At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers himself to poison the newly-created Earth. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas.

Dr Hal's recitation deals with this the first arc of the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCgF0VL0wOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-LuIjekPJU&feature=related