Ten of the best snakes in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best snakes in literature.

One entry on the list:

Paradise Lost, by John Milton

The snake into which Satan enters is an über-serpent, "Fold above fold a surging Maze his Head / Crested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; / With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erect / Amidst his circling Spires." Only after he has tempted Eve does God punish him by making him crawl in the dust.

Read about a novel 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, ten of the best walled gardens in literature, and ten of the best coups de foudre 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