Paradise Lost is beautifully written, a literary treasure, but is only ever interesting when Satan is on scene. The rest is smug condescension and cringing servility.
Paradise Lost
Havamal 76
Cattle die, kindred die,
You yourself shall die,
But one thing I know
Shall never die:
The life-deeds of the foregone dead.
(my own reinterpretation of Havamal 76)