Paradise Lost Illustrated by John Milton

In the 1667 version of Paradise Lost, the poem was divided into ten books. However, in the 1672 edition, the text was reorganized into twelve books. In later printing, "Arguments" (brief summaries) were inserted at the beginning of each book. Milton used a number of acrostics in the poem. In Book 9, a verse describing the serpent which tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden spells out "SATAN" (9.510), while elsewhere in the same book, Milton spells out "FFAALL" and "FALL" (9.333). Respectively, these probably represent the double fall of humanity embodied in Adam and Eve, as well as Satan's fall from Heaven.