John Milton - "Paradise Lost"

analysis

• http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost
• http://www.enotes.com/topics/paradise-lost/critical-essays/paradise-lost-john-milton
• http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/paradise-lost.html
  
  Milton emphasizes the importance of reason. Man is noble by nature, but he has free will, and hence free to choose and capable of action, morally good or bad for which he alone is responsible. Milton does not believe in Calvinism according to which God has decided everything, and a man’s destiny has been fixed before his birth. Milton is a great humanist pinning his faith in the liberty and adventure of man.
  
  Men gain spiritual rebirth by controlling their passions. Is this akin to Sisyphus' acceptance of his fate, not succumbing to passions like rage and anger, he is spiritually reborn?