a summary of paradise lost book 1 (lines 1- 26?to get to know about these lines in a more critical way. thanks for your kind service.

Paradise Lost-Book 1 by Milton Line (1-26) are the
prologue, there are three more prologues in Paradise Lost - (Books III, VII and IX).
Milton follows the classical example of Epical poetry and invokes a
Muse.

A Muse was invoked by a classical poet to help him in
the task of writing his poem. Accordingly, Milton asks his Muse to lead him higher than
the Aonian mount of the classical poets, because the subject of his epic is higher than
theirs. The prologues in the Paradise Lost begin as classical invocations but, with one
exception, they rise to Christian prayers to the Holy
Spirit.

In first twenty-six lines, we are acquainted with
the theme of Paradise Lost, man's first disobedience; we learn that the materials are to
be taken chiefly from Genesis, that Milton is writing a classical epic but that he
intends, with the aid of the Heavenly Muse, to transcend the classical, and in a poem
both Hebrew and Christian, deal with the most profound of all problems, "to justify the
ways of God to men". In twenty-six lines, Milton has fused three great civilizations,
the main sources of Renaissance religious poetry: classical, Hebrew and
Christian.

Reference: Paradise Lost Book I
critical study by Ramjilal.