| Event | Book # |
| Raphael and Adam discuss the creation of the heavenly bodies | |
| Michael, sent by God to expell Adam and Eve from Paradise, prophesies in a flashforward the history of Man till the Flood | |
| The aftermath of the Fall on Earth and in Hell | |
| Raphael tells Adam how, after Satan and his legion were expelled from Heaven, God sends the Son to create the world in six days | |
| Satan's temptation of Eve in a dream | |
| The fallen angels awake on the burning lake of Hell | |
| Raphael is sent by God to Paradise to warn Adam of the Tempter's presence and to remind Adam of man's free will | |
| Raphael relates how, after Michael and Gabriel had fought against Satan, the Son of God himself had alone forced the hosts of Satan to leap from the edge of Heaven down into the de | |
| The temptation and fall of Eve | |
| The building of the palace of Pandemonium | |
| Adam and Eve are expelled from Paradise | |
| Satan, guided by Uriel to the Earth, alights on Mount Niphates | |
| Raphael continues his flashback description for Adam of the War in Heaven | |
| The book of creation | |
| In a flashback Raphael relates how and why Satan incited the revolt that led to the destructive war in Paradise, despite Abdiel's protestations | |
| Through a flashback, Raphael gives Adam an overview of the story of the Creation | |
| The council in Heaven | |
| Satan's ejection by Gabriel | |
| Raphael departs from Eden after warning Adam against the coming catastrophe | |
| Adam and Eve, having ceased mutual accusations, supplicate and repent to the Son of God | |
| | Event | Book # |
| In a flashback Adam recounts for Raphael his own creation and then Eve's creation | |
| Sin and Death arrive on Earth | |
| The Son of God intercedes for Adam and Eve, asking for God's forgiveness, which is granted | |
| The Son of God offers his life to expiate Man's sin, an offer accepted and exalted | |
| Adam and Eve are ashamed of their nakedness | |
| Satan returns to Hell and relates his exploits only to be greeted by hisses as he and the legion of devils are symbolically transformed into serpents | |
| God sends down the Son to judge the fallen Adam and Eve | |
| Adam, out of love for Eve, also eats of the fruit (central plot event of the epic) | |
| The book of war and God's thunder | |
| Michael continues the flashforward narrative of biblical history | |
| Satan's arrival at the Garden of Eden | |
| Adam and Eve discuss Eve's dream in which she ate of the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge | |
| Satan overhears Adam and Eve discourse on the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge and Eve's dream, a flashback of her creation | |
| Michael prophesies the coming of the Messiah, his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, and the history of Man to the second Advent | |
| The decision by Satan and co. to investigate the new world | |
| The council in Hell | |
| The fall of Satan and his angels through Chaos | |
| God foretells Satan's success, and Man's fall and punishment | |
| Satan departs for Earth alone, passing through the gates of Hell (guarded by Sin and Death) and upward through the realm of Chaos | |
| The poet invokes the muse, Urania | |
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