Neil Bowen on (Edited )
‘The Genres of Paradise Lost’, Barbara Kiefer Lewalski:
Epic influences:
Iliad: tragic epic subject, death resulting from disobedience
Odyssey: Satan’s Odysseus-like adventures
Theogony: war in heaven between good and evil angels
Metamorphoses: divine and demonic transformations
Lesser influences from romantic epics (eg Eden as a garden of love).