The Medieval Church · c. 1000; poems earlier
The Junius Manuscript
Anonymous
What it is
Four biblical poems in alliterative verse: Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan. The interpolated Genesis B gives Satan a long speech of defiance from hell, and makes the tempter a subordinate demon in disguise who deceives Eve with an apparent vision of heaven.
Why it lasted
The largest body of Old English biblical poetry, and its Satan is the one Milton's resembles — Junius published it in 1655, and Milton, who knew Junius, began Paradise Lost within a decade.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next