Paradise Lost is Milton's retelling of the story of Genesis. The interpretation of the Bible found in it is generally a Calvinist one. The poem is framed as an epic, beginning with a variant of the classical invocation of the Muses:
OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World,
... Sing Heav'nly Muse, ...
This frames the poem as accounting for the present...
Paradise Lost is Milton's retelling of the story of Genesis. The interpretation of the Bible found in it is generally a Calvinist one. The poem is framed as an epic, beginning with a variant of the classical invocation of the Muses:
OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World,
... Sing Heav'nly Muse, ...
This frames the poem as accounting for the present human condition by the Biblical account of the human expulsion from Paradise due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
The poem actually addresses two great acts of disobedience, first the fall of Lucifer who rebelled against God and was cast into Hell, and then the fall of man, due to the beguiling words of Lucifer in the form of a serpent. In both cases (Lucifer's expulsion from Heaven and man's expulsion from Eden) the central cause is their own arrogance in flouting the authority of God.
Three aspects of the human condition follow from the fall. First, our current state, in which we are short-lived, must struggle for food and shelter, and are afflicted with various physical ailments is all due to the expulsion from Eden. Second, we all participate in Original Sin and thus cannot be saved purely by our own efforts. Finally, because the Son volunteered to sacrifice himself to save us, we are not irrevocably condemned to eternal torment like the fallen angels, but instead can be saved through faith in Jesus.
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