To my mind, one of the important differences between Paradise Lost and LOTR is that Milton danced with the Devil, whereas Tolkien backed away from giving us a truly replete depiction of Saruman's characterization. I am profoundly interested by the study in Frodo's motivation and behaviour, but I wish we had more of Saruman. If we had had as full a depiction of Saruman as of Gandalf or of Frodo, I think LOTR would have been completely mesmerizing.

I don't remember anything like that occurring in Paradise Lost.

the degenerative cycle is actually mostly humans. it's when Micheal is telling Adam about the future of human kind.
bethberry, i agree that seeing more of sauron could be interesting, but where would it fit in? also, we see a little bit about Morgoth in the Sil. but still, yes it could be interesting to learn more about them both.

I was pretty sure that Tolkein never liked Shakespear's works and that he furiously argued with any theory that he had indeed taken anything from any work of Shakespear, but I'm not sure...

-willkill