It only becomes better when you know the backstory of the author and the context in which it was written. John Milton was a talented diplomat who spoke multiple languages and was very well respected by his peers who admired him for his intelligence and good character. He supported a popular uprising against the incompetent king of England out of a sense idealism. The revolution was initially a success but the democratic government that should have replaced the king turned into an even more unpopular dictatorship. The monarchy was restored, most revolutionaries where executed and Milton was banished to the country side where he lived out his final years in poverty going blind due to cataracts growing in his eyes. He dictated the story of Paradise Lost to a scribe to explain how hard it is to change the word for the better, "To serve in heaven or to rule in hell" as he would put it. This was his final act of rebellion, to cast satan as a personable anti hero.