Calling Paradise Lost a masterpiece almost feels redundant, yet that’s the only word that captures the weight and power of Milton’s verse. A masterpiece with an errata.

What struck me most was not Satan’s charisma and rethoric (so often praised with good reason) but rather the quiet dignity of the so-called “meek”. In this epic of rebellion and ruin, the true hero is not the loud defier but the one who endures, who bends without breaking. Milton seems to suggest that strength is not in the roar of defiance but in the willingness to carry the burden of love and of trust.

What seels the deal on this theory is in Book V–VI. Abdiel is the lone angel who stands up to Satan during his rallying speech. At first, Abdiel listens among the host of fallen angels, but then he courageously denounces Satan’s rebellion, returns alone to God’s side, and is welcomed as a faithful servant.

It is a strange inversion of what we normally expect in an epic. No Achilles, no Odysseus, no warrior triumph. Instead, it is Adam and Eve’s frailty, paired with their repentance, that becomes luminous. Their meekness, their recognition of dependence, is elevated into something greater than conquest.