Literary notes about paradise (AI summary)
The word "paradise" is a versatile literary device that transcends a single meaning. At its core, it evokes images of an ideal state—a pristine, almost mythic environment where nature and the divine coalesce. In sacred texts, it represents the untouched Garden and eternal bliss [1, 2, 3], while other writers subvert this notion by linking it with corruption, loss, or the bitter irony of fallen grace [4, 5, 6]. Some authors employ the term metaphorically to capture fleeting moments of earthly happiness or to evoke a long-lost innocence, transforming paradise into a symbol of both aspiration and nostalgic yearning [7, 8]. Epic narratives and poetic works extend these ideas further by using "paradise" to delineate the chasm between human desire and the imperfections of reality, sometimes wrapping celestial perfection around the mundane [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. In this way, literature uses "paradise" to offer a rich commentary on beauty, transgression, and the eternal human search for an unattainable ideal.
- And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? 3:2.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels' robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - It seemed to him that he beheld Satan by the light of Paradise.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - "Alas! what have I done?" he sighed; "I have sinned like Adam, and the garden of paradise has sunk into the earth."
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - and she had to leave her paradise to wind yarn, wash the poodle, or read Belsham's Essays by the hour together.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - “It would be a perfect paradise for a bank clerk.”
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - That spot to which I point is Paradise , Adams abode, those loftie shades his Bowre.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - The springtime is a provisional paradise, the sun helps man to have patience.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - That sight will be as pleasing unto me, As Paradise was to Adam, the first day Of his creation.
— from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - Milton imitated it in Paradise Lost , IX, 996-1004.
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - Milton also makes use of this idea of the visible universe as linked to heaven in a golden chain, Paradise Lost , II, 1004-1006, and 1051-1052.
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - Undoubtedly the noblest of Milton's works, written when he was blind and suffering, are Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained , and Samson Agonistes .
— from English Literature by William J. Long