Ten of the best coups de foudre

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best instances of love at first sight in literature.

One entry on the list:

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Adam tells the angel Raphael of the moment when he first saw Eve in a dream vision, "which from that time infused / Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before, / And into all things from her air inspired / The spirit of love and amorous delight". He wakes to find she is real and he is hooked.

Read about another entry on the list.

Satan from Paradise Lost is among the 50 greatest villains in literature according to the (London) Telegraph and appears on Mullan's list ten of the best devils in literature.

Paradise Lost also appears on Mullan's lists of ten of the best pieces of fruit in literature, ten of the best visions of hell in literature, ten of the best angels in literature, ten of the best visions of heaven in literature, and ten of the best walled gardens in literature. It is also on Diane Purkiss' critic's chart of the best books on the English Civil War and Peter Stanford's list of the ten best devils in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue