John Milton (1608–1674) Early notes on
Paradise lost as a five-act drama, c. 1640. Facsimile of the manuscript of

Milton’s minor poems ... (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899). Ee.b.3-4, p.38.

This page from the Trinity Manuscript shows Milton working out his initial ideas for Paradise Lost in the form of a tragedy in five acts. Visible beneath the crossings-out is the working title ‘Adams Banishment’, which Milton subsequently replaced with ‘Adam unparadiz’d’. Other pages of the manuscript show Milton toying with a cast of characters and finally deciding on the title, ‘Paradise lost’.

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