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How did Paradise Lost influence John Dryden and Alexander Pope?

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Engraved portrait of John Milton by Jacob Houbraken, showing Milton with shoulder-length hair, a lace collar, and period clothing, facing forward in an oval frame. — John Milton John Milton, engraving by Jacob Houbraken, 1741.

John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) exerted a significant influence on both John Dryden and Alexander Pope, though each engaged with the epic in distinct ways during the Neoclassical era.1

John Dryden: After consulting with Milton and receiving his approval, Dryden adapted the epic into an operatic work titled The State of Innocence and Fall of Man (1677). In this adaptation, Dryden translated the poem’s original blank verse into heroic couplets, the poetic measure that dominated the verse of that period.1
Alexander Pope: As a quintessential Neoclassical poet, Pope frequently utilized the art of allusion to Milton’s work. Most notably, he drew heavily upon the imagery of Paradise Lost to construct his mock-epic, The Rape of the Lock (1712–14). Pope’s poem serves as a genial parody of Milton’s epic, using the "pomp and circumstance" of the original to highlight the triviality of the social dispute he depicted.12