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Homer and Virgil were the two great masters of the Classical epic. Homers Iliad and Virgils
Aeneid have invariably served as models for all writers of the classical epic. Milton was a great
classical scholar and he sought to write an epic. He dreamt of immortality and he aspired to be
one with Homer and Virgil as the author of a classical epic. Milton turned his great classical and
Biblical learning to a poem to assert eternal providence, and justify the ways of God to men.
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
Milton achieved eminent success in making Paradise Lost as classical epic. In spite of certain
drawbacks and defects, Miltons epic is entitled to take its rightful place among half a dozen
classical epics in the world. The first essential feature of the epic is its theme. The theme of an
epic must have a national importance or significance; that is, the epic must be a true and faithful
mirror of the life and of a nation. Homer represented the national life, thought and culture of ht
Greeks in the Iliad, and Virgil gave expression to the hopes and aspirations of the Romans in the
Aeneid. The Fall of Man is the theme of the epic.
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