What Is so Striking About the Opening to Milton's Paradise Lost?

The first thing that is striking about John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost come even before the first line of poetry. Prior to the poetry’s beginning there is a small passage under the heading of ‘The Verse’.   The verse is, to heavily simplify, a explanation of why the poem doesn’t rhyme; however, it is much more complicated than that. Almost everything Milton wrote (or dictated) is dripping in allusion and imagery. The first line not only references Shakespear and the translation of great ancient epics, but also immediately draws a comparison between Milton’s work, which is to succeed the passage, and the great epics of the lost ages. In the first sentence, which runs on for all of the first eights sentences (the first example of Milton’s uncanny ability to stretch sentences beyond all mortal ability) Milton casually rubbishes all contemporary   poetry containing rhyme, calling it the remnant of a barbarous age and assuming the place to suggest vexation in his literary piers. The astounding thing or one may say the striking thing, is the level of intellectual didactics contained within this first paragraph. The sheer level of self assuredness that runs unashamedly into arrogance is either the sign of an egomaniac or the calling card of an egomaniac who has written a really good poem. Still, it remains striking just how didactic Milton is, how monstrously reasonable his absolute word is on the matter of rhyme is. Striking, without even having read a word of the poetry.
Once again, before the poem is written there is a striking fact that one almost is obliged to uncover before starting the epic journey between mortal and immortal plane that is the wonder of Paradise Lost. This is the fact of Milton’s blindness. The whole work was dictated to his daughters (whom he insisted ‘milked’ him of his words every morning), this means that the meter, the impeccable lack of rhyme, the reference, allusion, godly sentence structure, characters, coherency, imagery and the logical...