This paper
attempts to define whether Johm Milton's poem "Paradise Lost" can be classified as a true epic or as in fact an
anti-epic. It looks at the proper defintitions of the terms epic and anti-epic and discusses how each of term could be applied to the poem, supported by quotations from the text. It explores the role of the "hero" in an epic by defining who the true "hero" of "Paradise Lost" is. It also
attempts to understand Milton's intentions in
writing the poem whether he thought he was writing an an epic or whether he was satirizing and subverting the genre by writing something very different.