We would think that Milton's contemporaries might be aghast that such a sympathetic portrait of Satan could be used at the beginning of the poem.

我们很可能以为，与弥尔顿同时代的人,看到本诗开头就对撒旦有如此具体系统的描述,定会感到惊骇。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

The rest of contemporary history, including all of the stormy events leading up to Milton's own beloved Puritan Revolution, in which Milton himself, of course, had participated -all of that has been at least at the literal level, at the explicit level, expunged from the poem.

接下来的当代历史，包括所有引领着弥尔顿所钟爱的清教徒革命的,暴风性事件，在那场革命中，弥尔顿本人也参与其中,-所有那些至少在文义层面，在独立于本诗之外可说清的层面，都是很重要的。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选