John Milton, Paradise Lost

Tree of Knowledge in Paradise Lost

Milton places the Tree of Knowledge near the Tree of Life in the garden. The narrator introduces it as the human pair’s death before the temptation has occurred. Its knowledge of good is described as bought dearly through knowing ill. The phrase makes the later act more than the obtaining of neutral information.

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In the sources

Principal account

Literary

Milton places the Tree of Knowledge near the Tree of Life in the garden. The narrator introduces it as the human pair’s death before the temptation has occurred.

[1]

Further detail

Literary

Its knowledge of good is described as bought dearly through knowing ill. The phrase makes the later act more than the obtaining of neutral information.

[2]

Reading the account

Interpretation

The tree joins desire for understanding to a condition governing how knowledge is acquired and what it changes in the knower.

[1][2]

Context & interpretation

This entry follows the tree’s first description in Milton’s garden scene. The selected evidence concerns its placement and the narrator’s anticipation; later temptation speeches are not conflated with the narrator’s judgement.

Original passages

Source 1

Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré

John Milton; illustrated by Gustave Doré; edited by Henry C. Walsh

the Tree of Knowledge, grew fast by

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Passage & edition details

Location recorded at citation review: Milton, Paradise Lost, active reader leaf 107

Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.

Edition: IMJ-0115-E001
Reader page: IMJ-0115-E001-P0107
Original scan leaf: 108
Recorded leaf number: 108
Current Reader position: 103
Reader verification: Source-preserving update confirmed

Source 2

Paradise Lost: Illustrated by Gustave Doré

John Milton; illustrated by Gustave Doré; edited by Henry C. Walsh

Knowledge of good, bought dear by knowing ill

Open this page in the book

Passage & edition details

Location recorded at citation review: Milton, Paradise Lost, active reader leaf 107

Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.

Edition: IMJ-0115-E001
Reader page: IMJ-0115-E001-P0107
Original scan leaf: 108
Recorded leaf number: 108
Current Reader position: 103
Reader verification: Source-preserving update confirmed

Continue exploring

Sacred Objects ↗

Shared source page

Tree of Life in Paradise Lost

The garden’s tallest tree, misused by Satan as a lookout.

Shared source page

Eden in Paradise Lost

The planted garden whose abundance becomes the setting for human intimacy and concealed danger.

Explore Doré’s illustrations for Paradise Lost ↗

Tree of Knowledge in Paradise Lost

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In the sources

Principal account

Literary

Milton places the Tree of Knowledge near the Tree of Life in the garden. The narrator introduces it as the human pair’s death before the temptation has occurred.

[1]

Further detail

Literary

Its knowledge of good is described as bought dearly through knowing ill. The phrase makes the later act more than the obtaining of neutral information.

[2]