But there is one thing different from the great Homer and Virgil; Milton's Muse is not an ordinary god or goddess as we find in one epic poem. ... The similes used to describe Satan and the fallen angels add beauty and splendour of the poem. ... Milton was also well aware of the fact that an epic poem cannot be composed without a moral. ... " In short the moral of the poem is full of wisdom, contemplation and sacredness. In the end, we can say that Milton's 'Paradise Lost' is a great epic even surpassing the epics of Virgil and Homer in the conception and execution ...

• Word Count: 1662
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Pope uses highly refined verses, pungent satirical heroic couplets, and intelligence to satirize not only the irrepressible intricacy and solemnity of subject matters found within epic poems, but the commotion that results when a young lord cuts a small lock of hair from the head of an young beauty. ... As Russo, John P., author of Alexander Pope: Tradition and Identity (1972), points out Pope begins with an epic statement that echoes the first line of The Aeneid of Virgil: Arma virorumque cano, "Of arms and the man I sing O Heavenly Muse!" ... These sylphs represent Meddling Gods and Goddes...

• Word Count: 1581
• Approx Pages: 6