Why people recommend it
Paradise Lost by John Milton is an epic poem in blank verse that recounts the biblical story of the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve and the rebellion of Satan. On Behind the Bastards, host Robert discussed Francis Galton's childhood habit of reciting Milton's epic alongside Alexander Pope's translations to his family. On The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Jordan Peterson and guest Jim Caviezel explored the theological and literary interpretations of the poem, specifically focusing on the complex characterization of Satan and how long-standing literary traditions treat him as a profound anti-hero embodying evil. Across various podcast appearances, classic literature like Paradise Lost frequently serves as a touchstone for discussions on morality, human nature, storytelling, and the philosophical underpinnings of authority and rebellion, illustrating how Milton's historic verse continues to provoke deep intellectual analysis and debate among contemporary commentators and scholars alike.
Who recommended it
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 5
“Francis recalled performing Milton's paradise loss and Pope's translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey for his family and his autobiography, perhaps sensing that bragging about his tendency for spouting versus a child made him seem arrogant, Francis included this passage.”
“And I even think it’s more interesting to suggest that right now they’re super buddy-buddy or whatever because just a few days ago, in Bob Woodward’s new book, Biden was bashing Obama, saying that it’s like his fault that Ukraine has been melting down.”
“Well right, I mean the prophet Ezekiel writes about it in the first chapter, wheels in the sky. Yeah, that's a crazy one, boy, when you read that. Well it is crazy, if you read it, it's like, oh wow, you know?”
“So there's a lot we can talk about in the book, which we'll link in the show notes.”
“In Milton's 'Paradise Lost', there have been two readings forever, and one is that Milton's Satan is an anti-hero of the most profound sort— really, the embodiment of evil.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“There's a funny example where someone used AI to rewrite Paradise Lost, a classic, you know, epic poem, and then they had AI judge the two, and one was slop, and it preferred the slop.”
“There's a funny example where someone used AI to rewrite Paradise Lost, a classic, you know, epic poem, and then they had AI judge the two...”