I have never heard of Paradise Lost before, nor have I heard of Philip Pullman. A work of art should be aesthetically pleasing because that is what draws the audience to the piece. If it's not interesting to look at, the audience obviously aren't going to stand there and dissect the work and think about the deeper meaning of it. The aesthetic should be the main objective of a creative project because it shows the experience. This is related to making visual artist work because you can feel any emotion, whether good or bad and that is what aesthetic is.