Final answer:
John Milton's “Paradise Lost” is an example of an epic poem, a genre that is a long, narrative in verse often involving heroes and grand adventures, written in blank verse and featuring a protagonist who may not be traditionally heroic.
Step-by-step explanation:
“Paradise Lost” is a classic example of an epic poem, which is a lengthy narrative in verse that typically involves heroic figures and grand adventures, often highlighting the culture's values and myths. John Milton’s epic poem uses a form known as blank verse, which is unrhymed iambic pentameter, a style that gives the poem a majestic, meditative tone matching the grandeur of its subject. Epic poems, unlike other narrative forms like tragedies, can encompass a vast scale and multiple subplots within their structure, allowing them to tell comprehensive tales, as seen in ancient works such as Homer’s “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” or the Indian epic “The Mahabharata.” The main character in an epic poem, known as the protagonist, might not always be traditionally heroic, as evidenced by Satan being the protagonist of “Paradise Lost.”