paradise lost book 1 satan's speech summary

• Paradise Lost

John Milton

• Literature Notes
• Poem Summary
• About Paradise Lost
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Character Map
• John Milton Biography
• Critical Essays
• Milton's Universe
• Major Themes in Paradise Lost
• Milton's Grand Style
• Full Glossary for Paradise Lost
• Essay Questions
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• Cite this Literature Note

Summary and Analysis Book I

Book I of Paradise Lost begins with a prologue in which Milton performs the traditional epic task of invoking the Muse and stating his purpose. He invokes the classical Muse, Urania, but also refers to her as the "Heav'nly Muse," implying the Christian nature of this work. He also says that the poem will deal with man's disobedience toward God and the results of that disobedience. He concludes the prologue by saying he will attempt to justify God's ways to men.

Following the prologue and invocation, Milton begins the epic with a description of Satan, lying on his back with the other rebellious angels, chained on a lake of fire. The poem thus commences in the middle of the story, as epics traditionally do. Satan, who had been Lucifer, the greatest angel, and his compatriots warred against God. They were defeated and cast from Heaven into the fires of Hell.

Lying on the lake, Satan is described as gigantic; he is compared to a Titan or the Leviathan. Next to Satan lies Beelzebub, Satan's second in command. Satan comments on how Beelzebub has been transformed for the worse by the punishment of God. Still he adds that it is his intention to continue the struggle against God, saying, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" (263).

With effort, Satan is able to free himself from his chains and rise from the fire. He flies to a barren plain, followed by Beelzebub. From the plain, Satan calls the other fallen angels to join him, and one by one they rise from the lake and fly to their leader. As they come, Milton is able to list the major devils that now occupy Hell: Moloch, Chemos, Baalem, Ashtaroth, Astarte, Astoreth, Dagon, Rimmon, Osiris, Isis, Orus, Mammon, and Belial. Each devil is introduced in a formal cataloguing of demons. These fallen angels think that they have escaped from their chains through their own power, but Milton makes it clear that God alone has allowed them to do this.

This devil army is large and impressive but also aware of its recent ignominious defeat. Satan addresses them and rallies them. He tells them that they still have power and that their purpose will be to oppose God, adding, "War then, War / Open or understood, must be resolv'd" (661-62).

This speech inspires the devil host, and under Mammon's direction, they immediately begin work on a capital city for their Hellish empire. They find mineral resources in the mountains of Hell and quickly begin to construct a city. Under the direction of their architect, Mulciber, they construct a great tower that comes to symbolize the capital of Hell, Pandemonium. The devil army, flying this way and that, is compared to a great swarm of bees. When the work is done and the capital completed, they all assemble for the first great council.

Milton begins Paradise Lost in the traditional epic manner with a prologue invoking the muse, in this case Urania, the Muse of Astronomy. He calls her the "Heav'nly Muse" (7) and says that he will sing "Of Man's First Disobedience" (1), the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. As the prologue continues, it becomes apparent that this muse is more than just the classical Urania, but also a Christian muse who resides on Mt. Sinai, in fact the Holy Spirit. In these first lines, Milton thus draws on two traditions — the classical epic exemplified by Homer and Virgil and the Christian tradition embodied in the Bible as well as Dante's Divine Comedy and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene .

Milton further emphasizes in the prologue that his theme will be Man's disobedience to God's will, implying not only Adam's disobedience, but all mankind from first to last. He does add that his subject will include the "greater Man" (4) who saved all others from the original disobedience. Moreover, his intention will be to "justify the ways of God to men" (26) through the aid of "Eternal Providence" (25). By "justify," Milton means more than simply to explain; he means that he will demonstrate that God's actions in regard to man are just. This goal suggests that Milton was not bothered by any sense of false modesty, an idea underscored by his statement that he will write in a high style and attempt a purpose never tried before. The one truly poignant line in this prologue is Milton's request of the muse, "What in me is dark / Illumine" (22 — 23), with its oblique reference to Milton's blindness, a subject he will return to more directly in the prologue that begins Book III. At no point in this prologue and invocation does Milton mention Satan, who, though he is the main character of the poem, is not the actual subject.

Following the invocation and prologue, Milton continues in the epic style by beginning in medias res , in the middle of things. Satan is first seen lying in the pit of Hell. That a great religious epic focuses on Satan, presents him first, and in many ways makes him the hero of the poem is certainly surprising and something of a risk on Milton's part. Milton does not want his audience to empathize with Satan, yet Satan is an attractive character, struggling against great odds. Of course, Milton's original audience more than his modern one would have been cognizant of the ironies involved in Satan's struggles and his comments concerning power. The power that Satan asserts and thinks he has is illusory. His power to act derives only from God, and his struggle against God has already been lost. To the modern audience, Satan may seem heroic as he struggles to make a Heaven of Hell, but the original audience knew, and Milton's lines confirm, that Satan's war with God had been lost absolutely before the poem begins. God grants Satan and the other devils the power to act for God's purposes, not theirs.

Also, at this point in the narrative, Satan is at his most attractive. He has just fallen from Heaven where he was the closest angel to God. He has not completely lost the angelic aura that was his in Heaven. As the poem progresses, the reader will see that Satan's character and appearance grow worse. Milton has carefully structured his work to show the consequences of Satan's actions.

The catalogue of demons that follows Satan's escape from the burning lake follows an epic pattern of listing heroes — although here the list is of villains. This particular catalogue seems almost an intentional parody of Homer's catalogue of Greek ships and heroes in Book II of the Iliad . The catalogue is a means for Milton to list many of the fallen angels as well as a way to account for many of the gods in pagan religions — they were originally among the angels who rebelled from God. Consequently, among these fallen angels are names such as Isis, Osiris, Baal, and others that the reader associates not with Christianity but with some ancient, pagan belief. Of the devils listed, the two most important are Beelzebub and Belial. (For a complete description of each devil, see the List of Characters.)

The final part of Book I is the construction of Pandemonium, the capital of Hell. A certain unintentional humor pervades this section of Book I as well as Mammon's argument in Book II. In both cases, a sense of civic pride seems to overcome the devils, and they act on the idea that "Hell is bad, but with a few improvements we can make it lots better, even attractive." In both Mammon and the hellish architect, Mulciber, the attitude of the mayor whose small town has been bypassed by the Interstate comes out. They both seem to think that with improvements Hell may be nice enough that others may want to relocate.

Milton's real goal here, though, is to establish Hell's capital, Pandemonium — a word which Milton himself coined from the Latin pan (all) and demonium (demons). Thus, the capital of Hell is literally the place of all demons. With the passage of time, the word came to mean any place of wild disorder, noise, and confusion. This idea is subtly emphasized with Milton's choice of Mulciber as the architect. Mulciber was another name for Hephaestus, the Greek God of the Forge, who was tossed from Olympus by a drunken Zeus. Mulciber is consequently a figure of some ridicule and not the most likely architect to build a lasting monument.

One other aspect of the construction of Pandemonium is worth consideration. Mammon and the other devils find mineral resources including gemstones in their search for building materials. This discovery of resources suggests that the Hell Milton has imagined is a multifaceted place. In the first scene, as Satan and the others lie chained on the burning lake, Hell seems totally a place of fiery torture and ugliness. The construction of Pandemonium shows that there is more to Hell. Geographic features such as a plain and hill, mineral resources such as gemstones, and even the possibility for beauty seem to exist in Hell. Other aspects of Hell will be brought forward in later books. All in all, Milton depicts a Hell that has more than one essence, or, at least in the opening books, seems to.

justify (26) to show to be just, right, or in accord with reason; vindicate.

Ethereal (45) not earthly; heavenly; celestial.

Adamantine (48) of or like adamant; very hard; unbreakable.

Cherub (157) one of the winged heavenly beings that support the throne of God or act as guardian spirits.

Stygian (239) of or characteristic of the river Styx and the infernal regions; infernal or hellish.

puissant (632) powerful; strong.

Pandemonium (756) any place or scene of wild disorder, noise, or confusion; here, the capital of Hell.

Previous Character List

Next Book II

Paradise Lost Book 1 Summary

• The poem opens with an invocation; that's when the speaker asks the muses – ancient deities thought to inspire poetry and art – to inspire him, give him the ability to perform, etc. We see speakers talk to their muses in the beginning of a lot of epic poems; check out the first lines of the Iliad .
• He asks the muses to sing about "man's first disobedience" (1), the Forbidden Fruit, his exile from Eden, his eventual redemption through Jesus Christ, etc.
• Soon, the scene shifts to a burning inferno; we're in Hell with Satan, only Hell isn't below the earth but somewhere way out in the middle of nowhere, a place Milton calls Chaos.
• Milton's universe is tricky, so we'll give you a quick lay of the land. Basically, the created universe (the earth, the sun, the planets, the stars, etc.) is an enclosed globe or spherical structure. This structure hangs from Heaven by a golden chain. Everything outside the sphere and Heaven is called Chaos, with Hell at the end opposite to Heaven and the universe. Head over to "Best of the Web" to see some pictures.
• Satan looks around bewildered; apparently he's just fallen from Heaven and hasn't quite adjusted to his new surroundings. It's hot, and there's a weird "darkness visible" all around.
• He notices his first mate, Beelzebub.
• Satan addresses Beelzebub, saying he doesn't look like the friend he knew in Heaven (apparently, the fallen angels have also undergone a change in appearance as well as location).
• Satan describes how he and a bunch of other angels fought with God and lost. Although they've been beaten, all is not lost.
• Beelzebub responds, saying that he's upset and worried about the current state of affairs.
• He suggests that the only reason they still feel strong and courageous – still feel alive – is so that they can completely experience their punishment and satisfy God's "vengeful ire."
• Satan responds, saying that their goal from now on is to be evil: "To do ought good never will be our task, / But ever to do ill our sole delight" (1.159-60). If God does something good, they will try to screw it up.
• Satan suggests that he and Beelzebub move to a nearby plain and think about how to war against God, deal with the horrors of their circumstances, and repair their losses.
• As Satan moves towards the plain, the narrator describes him: he is much bigger than any of the famous giants of classical mythology or the bible. He is so big, a sailor might mistake him for an island and attempt to moor his boat there.
• He moves off the lake and flies – these fallen angels still have their wings – to the plain, which is also burning. Beelzebub eventually follows him.
• Satan looks around and says it's not so bad because he'd rather be as far from God as possible.
• He then suggests that his forces reassemble on the plain so they can figure out a plan of action.
• Satan goes to the shore of the burning lake to beckon the fallen angels; his shield is almost as big as the moon and his spear is much bigger than the biggest mast of a ship.
• The fallen angels are scattered on the lake like a whole bunch of leaves, or just like a whole bunch of reeds in the Red Sea.
• Satan addresses the fallen angels, and he can't believe they've been vanquished.
• He tells them to rise up now, or remain fallen forever. They rise up very quickly, as if they've been caught napping while on duty (that's Milton's comparison not ours!).
• The angels assemble in squadrons, just like an organized army. There are a ton of them! The leaders of the squadrons assemble close to Satan, the "great commander."
• These leaders will eventually become the various pagan deities described in the Old Testament (the first half of the Bible that deals with the times before Jesus) that the Israelites worshipped (sinfully) alongside God.
• The first to come is Moloch, who is covered in blood. He somehow deceived Solomon – an Old Testament king – to build a temple for him.
• Next comes Chemos; after the Israelites made it out of Egypt, they started spending a lot of time with non-Hebrew peoples and eventually started worshipping this guy.
• With Chemos and Moloch come Baalim and Ashtaroth. Both of these are general words to refer to types of male and female pagan deities found in the region that is now the modern-day middle east, especially Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Jordan.
• Astoreth or Astarte, as the Phoenicians called her, also comes with the fallen angels. She was worshipped by Phoenician virgins and also by the Israelites in their promised land!
• Thammuz comes next; he was supposedly wounded every year, which caused the river Adonis to become a purplish color because of his blood.
• Next comes Dagon, a Philistine sea-god whose upper half is man, the lower fish.
• After him comes Rimmnon, a deity worshipped in what is now modern-day Syria.
• Next come the bestial and beastly Egyptian gods with animal heads – Isis, Osiris, and Orus.
• The last to arrive is Belial; nobody ever built a temple for him, but he can be found everywhere. He loves vice for itself, and is associated with insolent debauchery.
• There were a lot of other fallen angels, but it would take forever to name them all, says our narrator. For example, there were also the Olympian gods that the Ancient Greeks worshipped.
• A lot of other devils come, and they all look unhappy, though they appear to have some hope left. They are glad to find that Satan is not in total despair.
• Satan rekindles their hope with a speech that sounds good but is really a bunch of rubbish (so says the narrator), and he demands that his flag be unfurled.
• When all the fallen angels see the flag (it shines like a meteor), the individual squadrons raise their flags, spears, and shields and roar with one loud voice.
• The soldiers start marching (silently) to the tune of some hellish pipes, and eventually assemble in front of Satan, waiting for his command.
• Satan stands like a tower over his army (the biggest ever assembled); he's still got some of the old fire still left in him, even after falling a really long way.
• Satan tries three times to speak to his minions, but he keeps bursting into tears! Satan can cry? Since when?!
• Finally he starts speaking, noting that they are brave soldiers and nobody could have foreseen that such an awesome army could ever be defeated.
• Don't worry, he tells them, they will rise again, but they can't fight God in the same way. They have to use "fraud or guile" this time.
• The rumor-mill says God intends to create another world, and Satan says they should devote their energies to messing with that world.
• Satan finishes, and his legions all draw their swords as a sign of approval.
• A group of fallen angels led by Mammon – the greedy, money-loving devil – head towards a volcano rich with "metallic ore."
• They start digging in it and eventually unearth a bunch of gold.
• A second group works to separate the ore from the rock with the help of liquid fire – there's a burning lake nearby just right for the purpose – while a third group pours the ore into a mould.
• Eventually, a huge edifice emerges; it looks like a huge temple and has sculptures adorning it, huge pillars, and even a golden roof. It is more magnificent than anything ever seen on earth.
• The fallen angels enter the building, now given the name Pandemonium, to have a council. It is swarming with angels, almost like a beehive.
• All of a sudden, the fallen angels, which a minute before were bigger than giants, now shrink to the size of little elves or dwarves (this is so that they can all fit inside Pandemonium).
• The squadron leaders retain their giant size (they don't shrink) and gather together for the great debate in Hell.

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W hy's T his F unny?

1 - 26: In the first 26 lines of the poem the narrator, in keeping with the tradition of epic poetry, invokes the aid of his “Heav’nly Muse.” More importantly, though, in line 26 the reader is furnished with the poet / narrator’s over-arching purpose: to “justifie the ways of God to men.” It is important to note that the promise is to justify God’s ways not to the inclusive singular "man," but to a subset of humanity identified as men. Arguments over gender inclusion or exclusion can be made, but Milton’s apparent sexism aside, his text is aimed not at all people but only at that “fit audience though few” referred to at line 31 of Book VII. This audience would probably be the Elect, those justified through God’s Grace as accorded with Milton’s highly personal form of Christianity, derived from but not identical to Calvinism, either before or during Milton’s life time.

27 - 33: In lines 27 - 33 the speaker calls on his muse to first explain the cause of Adam and Eve's ("our Grand Parents") original sin. The speaker characterizes the muse as virtually all-knowing, thanks to heavenly permission. In phrasing the speaker's request, the poet calls attention to the belief that Adam and Eve (and, by implication, subsequently all of humanity) would have ruled the world, subject to only one injunction: the original commandment not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In asking his final question of the muse--"Who first seduced them"--the speaker introduces a cause and effect relationship that might suggest Adam and Eve, and again all humans by implication, are not fully and not initially responsible for their sin(s). What might this imply about the doctrine of original sin, and about the natural state of the human creature?

34 - 83: The muse seems to respond to the speaker's invocation in lines 34 to 83. In answer to the question "who first seduced" humankind, the muse replies that it was "the infernal serpent," who was himself driven by envy and a desire for revenge against God for having him (the serpent) cast out of heaven. The muse adds the detail, in ll. 35 - 6, that the serpent deceived Eve to achieve his revenge. After his direct answer to the speaker's question, "the muse" prepares the poem's transition to a discussion between the leaders of the rebel angels from their new abode outside of heaven on and around a lake of fire. The most important quality of this passage is the subtle insistence that it was Eve who was first deceived, thus setting her up as the first cause of "death . . . and all our woe" (l.3). While Milton adds much to the Biblical narrative throughout his poem, in assigning blame to Eve he is following the Bible closely (cf. Gen . 3).

84 - 126: Lines 84-126 in Milton’s Paradise lost depict the character of Lucifer/Satan after he and his host of rebel angels were cast out of heaven and into hell after an unsuccessful revolt. In the lines 80-83 Milton’s Muse is speaking, leading us into the transition into Satan becoming the speaker. The lines 84-124 Satan is speaking to Beelzebub. Satan begins by acknowledging his own differences and has a bit of an identidy crisis, however short lived.“If thou beest he; but O how fallen! How changed/”(83) he says after a long silence after he has awakened in Hell. He then turns to Beelzebub and speaks to him acknowledging that falling has changed him drastically as well. After it is established there has been a change, but they are still who they know themselves to be, or at least have the same desires as they had before, ``to wage by force or guile eternal war,/ Irreconsileable to [their] grand foe.” (122-3). Satan convinces Beelzebub that God is truly a tyrant and that their cause is not lost. By the time we reach the 125th line the Muse is narrating once more and we see Beelzebub “rack’d with despair” (126) for a moment. After this comes the moment we as readers know Beelzebub is ready to follow as he calls Satan “Prince” and “Chief”. Then Beelzebub and Satan address the other angels who were cast into Hell and recruit them for the “cause”. It is painfully obvious Satan is a flawed character who is completely driven by pride, I don’t feel he was wrong in rebelling. Even in Milton’s writing, and he does take sides, Satan clearly does want to rule, but there’s also the desire to no longer be enslaved by God from him as well as the other rebel angels, making him more noble than evil. Does Satan truly believe God is a tyrant who must be over thrown, or is he just a power hungry sore-loser? And either way, is God really a tyrant in this?

127 - 55: In lines 127- 55 Satan’s second in command becomes the speaker. The speaker characterizes Satan as prince and “Chief of many throned powers, that led the embattled.” He then praises Satan for being fearless and having threatened God’s celestial thrown. As Beelzebub begins to recap the events of their fall from heaven he acknowledges God’s greatness due to the fact no other power but the power Heavenly Father could defeat them. It then comes as a sign and a wonder to Beelzebub that their strength and power was intact in the underworld (hell) and begins to question why. He wonders if God left them their strength to ensure his will be done in hell as the fallen becoming slaves [traditionally through out ancient warfare it was customary for the conquering side take slaves]. The speaker expresses a great sense of fear for not completely understanding the terms of their fate in hell. The speakers asks these questions of Satan as the “Chief” in order to get a better perspective of their eternal fate.

157 - 91: Lines 157-91 detail Satan`s response to Beelzebub’s claim that God has imprisoned them unscathed in order to make them slaves and force them to do his heavenly bidding. Satan`s response reveals his self-conception as being in direct opposition to that of God`s purpose, chiefly an arbiter of evil, ``Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,/ Our labor must be to pervert that end”. As such Satan strives not only to be God’s opposite but also his equal, channeling his good intentions to malicious ends and preoccupying “His inmost counsels from their destined aim”. He urges his army to make use of the lull in fighting in order to regroup and to make the best of their “seat of desolation”. Finally he cautions that it is of no consequence whether they find solace in the hope of retaking heaven or resolution in the fact that they can sink no further.

192 - 241: This passage of text on page fifteen of John Milton’s Paradise Lost follows a speech given by Satan. It is describing the demons in hell and what hell looks like; saying that Satan and devils have their heads above the waves and sparkling eyes, with a body that extends to a ‘monstrous size’ while ‘lay floating’, giving the reading an idea that there is a vast of sea everywhere. The description on the body of water than continues on saying how it’s dark and gloomy; a sailor’s worst nightmare, just wanting the sun to rise because out there the sailor knows of the sea monster that is mistaken for land. This sea monster was created by God. Although ‘chained on the burning lake…the will and high permission of all-ruling Heaven left him at large’ letting him create and bring crimes, evil, and darkness to others. In Christian Doctrine I, viii; Works 15, Milton has written about God’s innocence in allowing crimes to be accomplished by the evil. Is God able to be called innocent for creating these evil creatures with knowing that He has given them the freedom to do so?

242 - 70: In lines 242-270 Satan is concluding to the fact that they have forever left behind the peaceful and tranquil place known as Heaven for this place of damnation and suffering. Lines 247 through 249 take on a very literal meaning: “Farthest from him is best” … those who are least like God are the followers Satan wants, “Whom reason hath equaled” … in reason he is not supreme, “Force hath made supreme above his equals” … through force he became the supreme ruler. In using farewell in line 249 Satan shows no remorse of leaving “happy fields where joy forever dwells” and adds a malevolent mood to the passage by going further in saying “Hail horrors, hail infernal world, and thou profoundest hell”. In the following lines the narrator speaks of psychological “mind over matter” and states that as long as you are the same you can make whatever you would like of the situation and place you find yourself is. “Here at least we shall be free” says the speaker, even though now that they are not under the supremacy of God, they are under the rule of Satan. The fallen angel goes on to question whether to fight for the riches of heaven, even though the consequence of losing is great.

272 - 82: Lines 272 - 82 reveal Beelzebub’s response to Satan. He first asserts in line 273 that “but the omnipotent none could have foiled” the rebel angels’ attack on Heaven; however, since this can be interpreted as either praising the Devil or admitting that God was clearly the mightier one, one might question Beelzebub’s apparently deliberate vagueness. He goes on to say how Satan’s defeated followers will fully and instantly regain their energy and morale, “if once they hear that voice”, proceeding to describe in great detail how Satan’s voice is the army’s truest beacon of hope in “fears and dangers” and “worst extremes” as written in lines 275 - 76. Since up to now Satan’s physical power has been emphasized (specifically in lines 194 – 209), why is such attention shifted instead to his ability to speak?

283 - 315: This section directly follows a conversation between Satan and Beelzebub, in which Satan debated which option was better, to reign in Hell or to fight back against God and his form of “justice”. Beelzebub then reassures Satan that the rebel Angels, who are now also stuck in Hell’s fire (280), would surely want to fight back with him against God. Next, Satan begins moving toward the beach by the lake of fire. The speaker’s description of Satan works to show his new found weakness, as his spear, that had been “to equal the tallest pine” was now “but a wand/He walked with to support uneasy steps”. His steps across “the burning marl” (296), as well as his “torrid climb”, (297) are contrasted with his past steps across “Heaven’s azure” (297). This illuminates how much more difficult life is now that he and his followers have been banished to Hell. After completing his trek toward the beach, Satan rises in front of his countless followers, all of whom are unified in their “perfidious hatred” (308) of those who looked down upon their failed rebellion from the safe shores of God’s land. The section seems to almost sympathize with Satan and his minions, and could pose the question is the fate that God handed to Satan and his followers truly justice?

315 - 30: In lines 315 – 330 of Book I, Satan calls upon the fallen angels, now inhabitants of hell, to assemble. Despite the circumstances, he does not address them as though they are defeated, but as if they still have power, calling them “princes, potentates, warriors” (l. 315-316). He tries to prompt his followers by rebuking them and asking with a sense of sarcasm if they had just come to hell to rest after a hard battle. He also asks them if in their “abject posture” (l. 322), or their unpleasant and degrading condition, they have switched allegiances and now worship God. These lines are notable because it shows that Satan is displaying confidence once again, and has not given up in his fight against God. In the final lines, he warns that if they do not rise again, the “swift pursuers from Heaven” (l. 326) will take advantage of their weakness and defeat them so that they will never leave this hell.

1. 331 - 75: Satan has roused his troop of fallen angels and they immediately gather around him on the land despite their terrible injuries: “Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd” (337). They are great in number and “fill all the plain” (350). They are awesome to behold even in their defeated state: “Godlike shapes and forms/ Excelling human, Princely Dignities/And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones” (358-360). Most of their names have been erased from the “Books of Life”. Some of the more prominent ones come to be worshipped as Gods later in the time of man: “By falsities and lyes the greatest part/Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake/God thir Creator…” (367-369).

376 - 391: In lines 376-391 the narrator commands of the muse to name the fallen angels as they rise from the lake of fire. Called by Satan, they ascend in order one-by-one. Milton makes a point to contrast the purpose of their order against the disorganized backdrop of Satan’s followers. The narrator further illustrates how these chief leaders, previously close to God, “altar by his altar”, have fallen from his good grace. They lost their seat next to god as a result of their defiance, and desire to be worshiped on earth, “their darkness durst affront° his light”. The importance of this passage is that it acts as a transition or a prelude to a more in depth description of the ascending chief devils (fallen angels).

392 - 505: At this point in the poem, Milton introduces some of the fallen angles () and how they attempted to corrupt and disconnect man from God. Most of this disconnect comes from men (particularly kings such as Solomon) worshiping the fallen angels as false idols. Milton further explains that these fallen angels can take various forms on earth in order to deceive people. This is because, in essence, the demons are sprits and are not bound by the physical confines of men, such as bones, joints and flesh. “Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, / not founded on the brittle strength of bones, / like cumbrous flesh, but in what shape they choose,” (Lines 425-428) As he introduces the various demons, Milton follows a pattern of first naming the fallen angel and their story of corrupting and then, follows with an example, from the bible, of how that demon was defeated or how the people who continued to follow the ways of the false ideal were lead to ruin. The exception to this pattern is Belial. Belial does not have any alters or temples built for him nor does he have any worshippers, rather Belial, and his sons, seem to be a dark shadow over humans. Belial lures men into acts of violence and corruption against God. What is particularly different about this fallen angel is that Milton asserts that “Belial came last, than whom a sprit more lewd / Fell not from Heaven or more gross to love/ Vice for itself…”(Lines 490-492.) This marks Belial as the most offensive of the fallen. Furthermore, Milton offers no example of victory over this demon. Milton leaves the subject of Belial quite abruptly and offers the reader no comforting example of how Belial was sent back to hell. This, combined with Milton’s statement that the fallen angels can take any form on earth, leaves the reader looking over their shoulder in search of where this demon may be hidden.

1. 506 - 21: In lines 506 – 21, the speaker continues to list the angels that fell from Heaven with Satan: “The rest were long to tell, though far renowned…” (507). The concept of the fallen angels being what humans would later regard as pagan gods is furthered through the speaker’s narrative of “Th’Ionian gods” (508) who were created by “Heav’n and Earth” (508). The speaker tells of Titan, “Heav’n’s first born” (510) being robbed of his birthright “by younger Saturn” (512). Saturn is in turn usurped by his son Jove who rules Olympus. The speaker notes that these gods would be first known in “Ida” and “Crete” (514-15) and how their presence eventually spread throughout Europe to “th’ Hesperian fields” and “utmost isles” (520-21). Milton, who was extremely religious, easily coordinates the Greco-Roman gods into his Christian universe.

1. 522 - 30: In lines 522-524, the narrator is describing how the people that God had rejected from Heaven kept coming to Hell, with looks of shame for being rejected. More and more rejects flocked down to Satan's home. But in lines 525-530, the narrator clearly shows that these people stop being ashamed of being rejected, as now they can rejoice as they "have found their chief" (Milton, 29). They also have found their family as more and more rejects enter their new home. The legion feels worthy of something, and feel that they belong. Satan increases their self pride, self worth, as well as their courage and erases all of their fears (Milton, 29). Within the same lines, the narrator continues to display Satan's joy and great pride from now having the army he will soon need to battle those in heaven.

1. 531 - 67: Lines 531-567 of Milton’s Paradise Lost, describe the construction of Satan’s army after, in lines 527-28 we see “his wonted pride soon recollecting”. He “gently raised their fainting courage and dispelled their fears” (ll. 529-30). This leads to him making “straight commands” and taking control over the other fallen angels. We also see him declaring the angel, Azazel “as his right”. After this, the author describes what seems to be a great celebration in the underworld, with “ten thousand banners...orient colors waving”. When Satan’s army is formed, they are a strong, unified group. “They move in perfect phalanx” and become a “united force with fixéd thought”. This army, great in numbers, is described as “a horrid front of dreadful length and dazzling arms”, “awaiting what command their mighty chief had to impose”. The most important part of this section is that is shows us that Satan isn’t a quitter. He knows that although he no longer sits at the right hand of God, he can still have power. It is evident that he is going to take full advantage of this fact.

1. 567 - 87: His army being gathered and equipped for war, Satan looks over it and carefully examines each member in the order according to their standing. He finds his warriors’ faces and bodies similar to those of gods and counts them. The impression he gets makes him grow full of pride and exult with triumph because his army is of unprecedented strength in human history. The narrator goes on to list heroic battles and brave soldiers, Christian or not, that have been described in literature ranging from Homer’s Iliad over the story of King Arthur and his knights of the round table to battles fought in the area between Italy, the Middle East and Africa (cf. footnotes 578-585). In the end the narrator concludes that even if all of these single heroes were joined to form a huge army, they would not be comparable with Satan’s battalion.

1. 587 - 621: “After the fall of the rebel angels, the narrator goes through the events that occur upon their awakening. He also gives a slight description of the some important angels that went through battle.” This Passage focuses on depicting Satan as a leader and a diplomat. The speaker characterizes “Lucifer” as the “dread Commander” his description portrays him as a fallen leader in battle. He characterizes him as “dauntless and considerate”. This gives Satan characteristics that any good leader would have. Milton gives Satan features a leader would need as he becomes passionate when seeing his fellow angels seemed to be full of remorseful and even felt prideful that they followed his command. At this point he uses this passage to emulate the past epic poetry showing the heroic elements of a fallen commander trying to revive and inspire his defeated army. The passage is also the transition to an address to the rebel angels around the lake of fire. Which is his inspiring speech that rekindles their “spirit”.

622 - 62: In lines 622-662, Satan has a narrative in which he is addressing the rebel angels, and discussing their loss to God’s forces. Satan seems surprised by the outcome, as how could “such united forces of Gods” have been “repulsed” from Heaven. He exaggerates not only the strength of the rebel angels but also the amount of forces that God lost and Hell gained to half of the angels, rather than a third of Heaven’s angels, and states that although they may not be able to win a war in terms of their strength, they will be able to do it through trickery. Through lines 639-640 he goes on to speculate as to why God continues to reign in Heaven. Satan narrows it to three reasons; repute, or fame, consent of the angels and tradition, rather than God’s reason, strength or truth. Satan states that God’s concealment of his power “tempted” the rebel angel’s attempt to take his throne, and ultimately led to their downfall into Hell. He finishes on line 659 by saying “peace is despaired”, which I took to be Satan’s refusal of submission and his acknowledgement of the continuance of war.

Paradise Lost

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Book 1 is aptly called “The Argument” as it introduces the subject: “man’s first disobedience” (61) against God , which refers to the biblical story in which Eve eats fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge and thus brings suffering into the world. The narrator asks his muse to provide an answer for why Eve and Adam would abandon their Creator. The narrator then shifts the focus of the story to Satan , an angel who conspired to overthrow God and propelled a civil war in Heaven. When God defeats Satan, God expels him and his fellow rebels to Hell.

Satan and his second-in-command Beelzebub consider their deplorable circumstances by a lake of fire. Satan admits that they have lost their battle against God, but he is adamant that all is not lost. Craving independence and freedom, Satan decides to make Hell a new haven for himself and his fellow fallen angels. Although they are disgraced and in a horrifying place, Satan declares, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven” (73).

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Home › Literature › Analysis of John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Analysis of John Milton’s Paradise Lost

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 12, 2020 • ( 0 )

Paradise Lost is a poetic rewriting of the book of Genesis. It tells the story of the fall of Satan and his compatriots, the creation of man, and, most significantly, of man’s act of disobedience and its consequences: paradise was lost for us. It is a literary text that goes beyond the traditional limitations of literary story telling, because for the Christian reader and for the predominant ethos of Western thinking and culture it involved the original story, the exploration of everything that man would subsequently be and do. Two questions arise from this and these have attended interpretations of the poem since its publication in 1667. First, to what extent did Milton diverge from orthodox perceptions of Genesis? Second, how did his own experiences, feelings, allegiances, prejudices and disappointments, play some part in the writing of the poem and, in respect of this, in what ways does it reflect the theological and political tensions of the seventeenth century?

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Paradise Lost was probably written between 1660–65, although there is evidence that Milton had had long term plans for a biblical epic: there are rough outlines for such a poem, thought to have been produced in the 1640s, in the Trinity MS, and Edward Phillips (1694:13) claims that Milton had during the same period shown him passages similar to parts of Book IV of the published work. The first edition (1667) was comprised of 10 books and its restructuring to 12 book occurred in the 1674 edition.

Prefatory material

There are two significant pieces of prefatory material; a 54-line poem by his friend Andrew Marvell (added in 1674) and Milton’s own prose note on ‘The Verse’ (added to the sixth issue of the 1667 first edition).

Marvell’s poem is largely a fulsome tribute to Milton’s achievement but this is interposed with cautiously framed questions which are thought to reflect the mood of awe and perplexity which surrounded Paradise Lost during the seven years between its publication and the addition of Marvell’s piece (lines 5–8, 11–12, 15–16).

Milton’s own note on ‘The Verse’ is a defence of his use of blank verse. Before the publication of Paradise Lost blank verse was regarded as occupying a middle ground between poetic and non-poetic language and suitable only for plays; with non-dramatic verse there had to be rhyme. Milton claims that his use of blank verse will overturn all of these presuppositions, that he has for the first time ever in English created the equivalent of the unrhymed forms of Homer’s and Virgil’s classical epics. He does not state exactly how he has achieved this and subsequent commentators (see particularly Prince 1954 and Emma 1964) have noted that while his use of the unrhymed iambic pentameter is largely orthodox he frames within it syntactic constructions that throughout the poem constitute a particular Miltonic style. In fact ‘The Verse’ is a relatively modest citation of what would be a change in the history of English poetry comparable with the invention of free verse at the beginning of the twentieth century. Effectively, Paradise Lost licensed blank verse as a non-dramatic form and without it James Thomson’s The Seasons (1730), William Cowper’s The Task (1785) and William Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey (1798) and The Prelude (1850) would not be the poems that they are.

The first twenty-six lines of Book I introduce the theme of the poem; ‘man’s first disobedience, and the fruit/Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste/Brought death into the world…’ (1–3) – and contain a number of intriguing statements. Milton claims to be pursuing ‘things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme’ (16) which can be taken to mean an enterprise unprecedented in non-literary or literary writing. While theologians had debated the book of Genesis and poets and dramatists engaged with it, no-one had, as yet, rewritten it. This raises the complex question of Milton’s objectives in doing so. He calls upon ‘the heavenly muse’ to help him ‘assert eternal providence,/And justify the ways of God to men’ (25–6). Both of these statements carry immense implications, suggesting that he will offer a new perspective upon the indisputable truths of Christianity. The significance of this intensifies as we engage with the developing narrative of the poem.

In lines 27–83 Milton introduces the reader to Satan and his ‘horrid crew’, cast down into a recently constructed hell after their failed rebellion against God. For the rest of the book Milton shares his third person description with the voices of Satan, Beelzebub and other members of the defeated assembly.

The most important sections of the book are Satan’s speeches (82–124, 241–264 particularly). In the first he attempts to raise the mood of Beelzebub, his second in command, and displays a degree of heroic stoicism in defeat: ‘What though the field be lost?/All is not lost’ (105–6). His use of military images has caused critics, William Empson particularly, to compare him with a defeated general reviewing his options while refusing to disclose any notion of final submission or despair to his troops. By the second speech stubborn tenacity has evolved into composure and authority.

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free; the almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.

(I: 254–63)

While not altering the substance of Genesis, Milton’s style would remind contemporary readers of more recent texts. Henry V addressing his troops, Mark Antony stirring the passions of the crowd, even Richard III giving expression to his personal image of the political future, all exert the same command of the relation between circumstance,rhetoric and emotive effect. Milton’s Satan is a literary presence in his own right, an embodiment of linguistic energy. In his first speech he is inspired yet speculative but by the second the language is precise, relentless, certain: ‘The mind is its own place … We shall be free… We may reign secure ’. The arrogant symmetry of line 263 has turned it into an idiom, a cliché of stubborn resistance: ‘Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven’. The question raised here is why Milton chose to begin his Christian epic with a heroic presentation of Satan.

The most striking and perplexing element of Book I is the fissure opened between Milton’s presence as guide and co-ordinator in the narrative and our perception of the characters as self-determined figures. Consider, for example, his third-person interjection between Satan’s first speech and Beelzebub’s reply:

So spake the apostate angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair.

Milton is not telling anyone familiar with the biblical account anything they do not already know, but he seems to find it necessary to restrain them, to draw them backs lightly from the mood of admiration that Satan’s speeches create. When he gives an itemised account of the devils, he begins with Moloch.

First Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents tears.

This version of Moloch is accurate enough but Milton is being a little imaginative with chronology, given that at this point in the history of the cosmos children, parents and the blood of human sacrifice did not yet exist. Indeed, his whole account of the sordid tastes and activities of the devils is updated to give emphasis to their effects upon humanity.Again, we have cause to suspect that Milton is attempting to match the reader’s impulse to sympathise with the heroic (in Satan’s case almost charismatic) condition of the devils with a more orthodox presentation of them as a threat to human kind, moral, physical and spiritual. Later (777–92) he employs a mock heroic style and presents them as pygmies, shrunk to a physical status that mirrors their spiritual decadence. Here it could be argued that he is attempting to forestall the reader’s admiration of the efforts and skill in the building of Pandemonium (710–92) by ridiculing the builders.

In Book I Milton initiates a tension, a dynamic that will attend the entire poem, between the reader’s purely literary response and our knowledge that the characters and their actions are ultimates, a foundation for all Christian perceptions of the human condition. The principal figures of Homer’s and Virgil’s poems are our original heroes. The classical hero will face apparently insurmountable tasks and challenges and his struggles against the complex balance of fate and circumstance will cause us to admire, to identify with him. Milton in Book I invoked the heroic, cast Satan and his followers as tragic, defeated soldiers, and at the same time reminded the Christian reader that it is dangerous to sympathise with these particular figures. Throughout the book we encounter an uncertainty that is unmatched in English literature: has the author unleashed feelings,inclinations within himself that he can only partially control, or is he in full control and cautiously manipulating the reader’s state of perplexity?

Book II is divided into two sections. The first (1–628) is the most important and consists of a debate in which members of the Satanic Host – principally Satan, Moloch, Belial, Mammon and Beelzebub – discuss the alternatives available to them. There are four major speeches. Moloch (50–105) argues for a continuation of the war with God. Belial (118–228) and Mammon (237–83) encourage a form of stoical resignation – they should make the best of that to which they have been condemned. It is Beelzebub (309–416) who raises the possibility of an assault upon Earth, Eden, God’s newest creation. Satan, significantly, stays in the background. He favours Beelzebub’s proposal, which eventually wins the consensual proxy, but he allows his compatriots freedom of debate,and it is this feature of the book – its evocation of open exchange – that makes it important in our perception of Paradise Lost as in part an allegory on contemporary politics. Milton’s attachment to the Parliamentarians during the Civil War, along with his role as senior civil servant to the Cromwellian cabinet, would have well attuned him to the fractious rhetoric of political discourse. Indeed, in the vast number of pamphlets he was commissioned to write in defence of the Parliamentarian and Republican causes, he was a participant, and we can find parallels between the speeches of the devils and Milton’s own emboldened, inspirational prose.

For example, one of Milton’s most famous tracts Eikonoklastes [38– 9], in which he seeks to justify the execution of Charles I, is often echoed in Moloch’s argument that they should resume direct conflict with God. Milton invokes the courageous soldiers who gave their lives in the Civil War ‘making glorious war against tyrants for the common liberty’ and condemns those who would protest against the killing of Charles ‘who hath offered at more cunning fetches to undermine our liberties, and put tyranny into an art, than any British king before him’. For Milton the Republicans embody ‘the old English fortitude and love of freedom’ ( CPW, III: 343–4). Similarly Moloch refers to those who bravely fought against God and now ‘stand in arms, and longing wait/The signal to ascend’ (55–6). Charles, the author of ‘tyranny’ in Milton’s pamphlet, shares this status with Moloch’s God; ‘the prison of his tyranny who reigns/By our delay …’ (59–60). Both Milton and Moloch continually raise the image of the defence of freedom against an autocratic tyrant.

Later in the book when Beelzebub is successfully arguing for an assault upon Earth he considers who would best serve their interests in this enterprise:

… Who shall tempt with wandering feet The dark unbottomed infinite abyss And through the palpable obscure find out His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight Up borne with indefatigable wings Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive The happy isle; what strength, what art can then

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe Through the strict sentries and stations thick Of angels watching round? … for on whom we send The weight of all our last hope relies.

(II: 404–16)

The heroic presence to whom Beelzebub refers is of course Satan, their leader. In Milton’s pamphlet A Second Defence of the English People (1654) he presents England as almost alone in Europe as the bastion of liberty and he elevates Cromwell to the position of heroic leader.

You alone remain. On you has fallen the whole burden of our affairs. On you alone they depend. In unison we acknowledge your unexcelled virtue … Such have been your achievements as the greatest and most illustrious citizen … Your deeds surpass all degrees, not only of admiration but surely of titles too, and like the tops of pyramids bury themselves in the sky, towering above the popular favour of titles. ( CPW , IV: 671–2)

The parallels between Beelzebub’s hyperbolic presentation of Satan and Milton’s of Cromwell are apparent enough. Even Milton’s subtle argument that Cromwell deserves a better status than that conferred by hereditary title echoes the devil’s desire to find their own replacement for the heavenly order, with Satan at its head. It is likely that many early readers of Paradise Lost would spot the similarities between the devils’ discourse and Milton’s, produced barely fifteen years before – which raises the question of what Milton was trying to do.

To properly address this we should compare the two halves of Book II. The first engages the seventeenth-century reader in a process of recognition and immediacy; the devils conduct themselves in a way that is remarkably similar to the political hierarchy of England in the 1650s. In the second, which describes Satan’s journey to Earth, the reader is shifted away from an identification with the devils to an abstract, metaphysical plane in which the protagonists become more symbolic than real. Satan is no longer human. At the Gates of Hell he meets Sin, born out of his head when the rebellion was planned, and Death, the offspring of their bizarre and inhuman coition (II: 666–967). Then he encounters Chaos, a presence and a condition conducive to his ultimate goal (II: 968–1009).

Book II is beautifully engineered. First, we are encouraged to identify with the fallen angels; their state and their heroic demeanour are very human. Then their leader, Satan, is projected beyond this and equated with ultimates, perversely embodied abstracts; Sin,Death and Chaos. One set of characters have to deal with uncertainties, unpredictable circumstances, conflicting states of mind. The others are irreducible absolutes.

Milton is establishing the predominant, in effect the necessary, mood of the poem. For much of it, up to the end of Book IX when the Fall occurs, the Christian reader is being projected into a realm that he/she cannot understand. This reader has inherited the consequences of the Fall, a detachment from any immediate identification with God’s innate character, motives and objectives. On the one hand our only point of comparison for the likes of Satan (and eventually God and his Son) is ourselves; hence Milton’s humanisation of the fallen angels. On the other, we should accept that such parallels are innately flawed; hence Milton’s transference of Satan into the sphere of ultimates, absolutes, metaphysical abstracts.

Critics have developed a variety of approaches to this conundrum. Among the modern commentators, C.S. Lewis read the poem as a kind of instructive guide to the self-evident complexities of Christian belief. Waldock (1947) and Empson (1961) conducted humanist readings in which Satan emerges as a more engaging character than God. Blake(followed by Coleridge and Shelley) was the first humanist interpreter, claiming that Milton was of the ‘Devil’s Party’ without being able to fully acknowledge his allegiance [137–8]. Christopher Hill (1977), a Marxist, is probably the most radical of the humanist critics and he argues that Milton uses the Satanic rebellion as a means of investigating his own ‘deeply divided personality’.

Satan, the battleground for Milton’s quarrel with himself, saw God as arbitrary power and nothing else. Against this he revolted: the Christian, Milton knew, must accept it. Yet how could a free and rational individual accept what God had done to his servants in England? On this reading, Milton expressed through Satan (of whom he disapproved) the dissatisfaction which he felt with the Father (whom intellectually he accepted). (366–7)

It begins with the most candid, personal passage of the entire poem, generally referred to as the ‘Address to Light’ (1–55). In this Milton reflects upon his own blindness. He had already done so in Sonnet XVI. Before that, and before his visual impairment, he had in‘L’Allegro’ and ‘Il Penseroso’ considered the spiritual and perceptual consequences of, respectively, light and darkness. Here all of the previous themes seem to find an apotheosis. He appears to treat his blindness as a beneficent, fatalistic occurrence which will enable him to achieve what few if any poets had previously attempted, a characterisation of God.

So much the rather thou celestial light Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.

(III: 51–55)

Milton is not so much celebrating his blindness as treating it as a fitting correlative to a verbal enactment of ‘things invisible to mortal sight’, and by invisible he also means inconceivable.

God’s address (56–134) is to his Son, who will of course be assigned the role of man’s redeemer, and it involves principally God’s foreknowledge of man’s Fall. The following is its core passage.

So will fall He and his faithless Progeny: whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the etherial powers And spirits, both them who stood and them who failed;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, Where only what they needs must do, appeared, Not what they would? What praise could they receive?

What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled, Made passive both, had served necessity, Not me.

(III: 95–111)

The address tells us nothing that we do not already know, but its style has drawn the attention of critics. In the passage quoted, and throughout the rest of it, figurative,expansive language is rigorously avoided; there is no metaphor. This is appropriate, given that rhetoric during the Renaissance was at once celebrated and tolerated as a reflection of the human condition; we invent figures and devices as substitutes for the forbidden realm of absolute, God-given truth. And God’s abjuration of figures will remind us of our guilty admiration for their use by the devils.

At the same time, however, the language used by an individual, however sparse and pure, will create an image of its user. God, it seems, is unsettled: ‘whose fault?/Whose but his own?’ He is aware that the Fall will occur, so why does he trouble himself with questions? And why, moreover, does God feel the need to explain himself, to apparently render himself excusable and blameless regarding events yet to occur: ‘Not me’. If Milton was attempting in his presentation of the devils to catch the reader between their faith and their empirical response, he appears to be doing so again with God. Critics have dealt with this problem in different ways. C.S. Lewis reminds the reader that this is a poem about religion but that it should not be allowed to disturb the convictions and certainties of Christian faith.

The cosmic story – the ultimate plot in which all other stories are episodes – is set before us. We are invited, for the time being, to look at it from the outside. And that is not, in itself, a religious experience … In the religious life man faces God and God faces man. But in the epic it is feigned for the moment, that we, as readers, can step aside and see the faces of God and man in profile.

Lewis’s reader, the collective ‘we’, is an ahistorical entity, but a more recent critic, Stanley Fish (1967) has looked more closely at how Milton’s contemporaries would have interpreted the passage. They, he argued, by virtue of the power of seventeenth-century religious belief, would not be troubled even by the possibility that Milton’s God might seem a little too much like us. William Empson (1961) contends that the characterisations of God and Satan were, if not a deliberate anticipation of agnostic doubt, then a genuine reflection of Milton’s troubled state of mind; ‘the poem is not good in spite of but especially because of its moral confusions’ (p.13).

Such critical controversies as this will be dealt with in detail in Part 3, but they should be borne in mind here as an indication of Paradise Lost’s ability to cause even the most learned and sophisticated of readers to interpret it differently. Lewis argues that Milton would not have wanted his Christian readers to doubt their faith (though he acknowledges that they might, implying that Milton intended the poem as a test), while Fish contends that querulous, fugitive interpretations are a consequence of modern, post-eighteenth-century, states of mind (a strategy generally known of Reader-Response Criticism). Empson, who treats the poem as symptomatic of Milton’s own uncertainties, is regarded by Fish as an example of the modern reader.

The first half of the Book (1–415) comprises God’s exchange with the Son and includes their discussion of what will happen after the Fall, anticipating the New Testament and Christ’s heroic role as the redeemer. The rest (416–743) returns us to Satan’s journey to Earth, during which he meets Oriel, the Sun Spirit, disguises himself and asks directions to God’s newest creation which, he claims, he wishes to witness and admire. By the end of the Book he has reached Earth.

Here the reader is engaged in two perspectives. We are shown Adam and Eve conversing,praying and (elliptically described) making love, and this vision of Edenic bliss is juxtaposed with the arrival and the thoughts of Satan. Adam’s opening speech (411–39) and Eve’s reply (440–91) establish the roles and characteristics that for both of them will be maintained throughout the poem. Adam, created first, is the relatively experienced,wise figure of authority who explains their status in Paradise and the single rule of obedience and loyalty. Eve, in her account of her first moments of existence, discloses aless certain, perhaps impulsive, command of events and impressions.

That day I oft remember, when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed Under a shade of flowers, much wondering where And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.

Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as the expanse of heaven; I thither went With unexperienced thought, and laid me down On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky. As I bent down to look just opposite A shape within the watery gleam appeared Bending to look on me; I started back, It started back, but pleased I soon returned, Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks Of sympathy and love; there I had fixed Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire, Had not a voice thus warned me, What thou seest,

What there thou seest fair creature is thyself, With thee it came and goes: but follow me, And I will bring thee where no shadow stays They coming, and thy soft embraces, he Whose image thou art, him thou shall enjoy Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear Multitudes like thyself, and then be called Mother of human race: what could I do, But follow straight, invisibly thus led? Till I espied thee.

(IV: 449–77)

This passage is frequently cited in feminist surveys of Milton [166– 74]. It introduces his most important female figure, indeed the original woman, and it does so by enablingher to disclose her innate temperamental and intellectual characteristics through her useof language.

We do not require textual notes or critical commentaries to tell us that Eve’s attraction to her own image in the water (460–5) is a straight-forward, indeed candid, disclosure of narcissism. Her first memory is of vain self-obsession. However, before we cite this as evidence of Milton’s portrayal of Eve, who will eat the forbidden fruit first, as by virtue of her gender the prototypical cause of the Fall, we should look more closely at the stylistic complexities of her speech.

For example, when she tells of how she looked ‘into the clear/Smooth lake’ (458–9) she is performing a subtle balancing act between hesitation and a more confident command of her account. ‘Clear’ in seventeenth-century usage could be both a substantive reference to clarity of vision (‘ the clear’) and be used in its more conventional adjectival sense (‘clear smooth lake’). Similarly with ‘no shadow stays/Thy coming’ (470–1), the implied pause after ‘stays’ could suggest it first as meaning ‘prevents’ and then in its less familiar sense of ‘awaits’. The impression we get is confusing. Is she tentatively feeling her way through the traps and complexities of grammar, as would befit her ingenuous, unsophisticated state as someone recently introduced to language and perception? Or is Milton urging us to perceive her as, from her earliest moments, a rather cunning actress and natural rhetorician, someone who canuse language as a means of presenting herself as touchingly naïve and blameless in her instincts? In short, is her language a transparent reflection of her character or a means by which she creates a persona for herself?

This question has inevitably featured in feminist readings of the poem [168–9], because it involves the broader issue of whether or not Milton was creating in Adam and Eve the ultimate and fundamental gender stereotypes – their acts were after all responsible for the postlapsarian condition of humankind.

To return to the poem itself we should note that it is not only the reader who is forming perceptions of Adam and Eve. Satan, in reptilian disguise, is watching and listening too.Beginning at line 505, Milton has him disclose his thoughts.

all is not theirs it seems: One fatal tree there stands of knowledge called,

Forbidden them to taste: knowledge forbidden?

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know, Can it be death? And do they only stand By ignorance, is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith? O fair foundation laid whereon to build Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds With more desire to know …

(IV: 513–24)

Without actually causing us to question the accepted facts regarding Satan’s malicious, destructive intent Milton again prompts the reader to empathise with his thoughts – and speculations. Satan touches upon issues that would strike deeply into the mindset of the sophisticated Renaissance reader. Can there, should there, be limits to human knowledge?By asking questions about God’s will and His design of the universe do we overreach ourselves? More significantly, was the original act of overreaching and its consequences– the eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge as an aspiration to knowledge –intended by God as a warning?

The rest of the book returns us to the less contentious, if no less thrilling, details of the narrative, with Uriel warning the angel Gabriel of Satan’s apparent plot, Gabriel assigning two protecting angels to Adam and Eve, without their knowledge, and Gabriel himself confronting Satan and telling him that he is contesting powers greater than himself.

Before moving further into the poem let us consider whether the various issues raised so far in the narrative correspond with what we know of Milton the thinker and not simply our projected notion of the thoughts which underlie his writing of the poem. Most significantly, all of the principal figures – Satan, God, Adam and Eve – have been caused to affect us in ways that we would associate as much with literary characterisation as with their functions within religious belief; they have been variously humanised. In one of Milton’s later prose tracts, De Doctrina Christiana ,  begun, it is assumed, only a few years before he started Paradise Lost, we encounter what could be regarded as the theological counterparts to the complex questions addressed in the poem. In a passage on predestination, one of the most contentious topics of the post-reformation debate, Milton is, to say the least, challenging:

Everyone agrees that man could have avoided falling. But if, because of God’s decree, man could not help but fall (and the two contradictory opinions are sometimes voiced by the same people), then God’s restoration of fallen man was a matter of justice not grace. For once it is granted that man fell, though not unwillingly, yet by necessity, it will always seem that necessity either prevailed upon his will by some secret influence, or else guided his will in some way. But if God foresaw that man would fall of his own accord, then there was no need for him to make a decree about the fall, but only about what would become of man who was going to fall. Since, then, God’s supreme wisdom foreknew that first man’s falling away, but did not decree it, it follows that, before the fall of man, predestination was not absolutely decreed either. Predestination, even after the fall, should always be considered and defined not so much the result of an actual decree but as arising from the immutable condition of a decree.

( CPW, VI: 174)

If after reading this you feel rather more perplexed and uncertain about our understanding of God and the Fall than you did before, you are not alone. It is like being led blindfold through a maze. You start with a feeling of relative certainty about where you are and what surrounds you, and you end the journey with a sense of having returned to this state,but you are slightly troubled about where you’ve been in the meantime. Can we wrest an argument or a straightforward message from this passage? It would seem that predestination (a long running theological crux of Protestantism) is, just like every other component of our conceptual universe, a result of the Fall. Thus, although God knew that man would fall, He did not cause (predetermine) the act of disobedience. As such, this is fairly orthodox theology, but in making his point Milton allows himself and his readers to stray into areas of paradox and doubt that seem to run against the overarching sense of certainty. For instance, he concedes that ‘it will always seem that necessity either prevailed upon his (man’s) will by some secret influence, or else guided his will in someway’. Milton admits here that man will never be able to prevent himself (‘it will always seem’) from wondering what actually caused Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. Was it fate,the influence of Satan, Adam’s or Eve’s own temperamental defects?

The passage certainly does not resolve the uncertainties encountered in the first four books, but it does present itself as a curious mirror-image of the poem. Just as in the poem the immutable doctrine of scripture sits uneasily with the disorientating complexities of literary writing, so our trust in theology will always be compromised by our urge to ask troubling questions. Considering these similarities it is possible to wonder if Milton decided to dramatise Genesis in order to throw into the foreground the very human tendencies of skepticism and self-doubt that exist only in the margins of conventionalreligious and philosophic thought. If so, why? As a form of personal catharsis, as an encoded manifesto for potential anti-Christianity, or as a means of revealing to readers the true depths of their uncertainties? All of these possibilities have been put forward by commentators on the poem, but as the following pages will show, the decision is finally yours.

Books V–VIII

These four books, the middle third of the poem, will be treated as a single unit because they are held together by a predominant theme; the presence of Raphael, sent by God to Paradise at the beginning of book V as Adam and Eve’s instructor and advisor. The books show us the growth of Adam and Eve, the development of their emotional and intellectual engagement with their appointed role prior to the most important moment in the poem’s narrative, their Fall in book IX. At the beginning of book V God again becomes a speaking presence, stating that he despatches Raphael to ‘render man inexcusable … Lest wilfully transgressing he pretend/Surprisal, unadmonished, unfore-warned’ (244–5). Line 244 offers a beautiful example of tactical ambiguity. Does ‘Lest’ refer to man’s act of ‘transgressing’? If so, we are caused again to consider the uneasy relation between free will, predestination and God’s state of omniscience: surely God knows that man will transgress. Or does ‘Lest’ relate, less problematically, to man’s potential reaction to the consequences of his act?Once more the reader is faced with the difficult choice between an acceptance of his limited knowledge of God’s state and the presentation to us here of God as a humanised literary character.

The arrival of Raphael (V: 308–576) brings with it a number of intriguing, often puzzling, issues. Food plays a significant part. Eve is busy preparing a meal for their first guest.

She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent What choice to choose for delicacy best, What order so contrived as not to mix Tastes, not well-joined, inelegant, but bring Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change.

This passage might seem to be an innocuous digression on the domestic bliss of the newlyweds – with Eve presented as a Restoration prototype for Mrs. Beaton or Delia Smith – but there are serious resonances. For one thing her hesitant, anxious state of mind appears to confirm the conventional, male, social and psychological model of ‘female’ behaviour – should we then be surprised that she will be the first to transgress, given her limitations? Also, the passage is a fitting preamble for Raphael’s first informal act of instruction. Milton sets the scene with, ‘A while discourse they hold;/No fear lest dinner cool’ (395–6), reminding us that fire would be part of the punishment for the Fall; before that neither food nor anything else needed to be heated. The ‘discourse’ itself, on Raphael’s part, treats food as a useful starting point for a mapping out of the chain of being. Raphael, as he demonstrates by his presence and his ability to eat, can shift between transubstantial states; being an angel he spends most of his time as pure spirit. At lines 493–9 he states that

Time may come when men With angels may participate, and find No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last turn to spirit, Improved by tract of time, and winged ascend

Raphael will expand upon this crucial point throughout the four central books: it is God’s intention that man, presently part spirit, part substance, will gradually move up the chain of being and replace Satan’s fallen crew as the equivalent of the new band of angels. How exactly this will occur is not specified but Raphael here implies, without really explaining, that there is some mysterious causal relationship between such physical experiences as eating and the gradual transformation to an angelic, spiritual condition: his figurative language is puzzling. It would, however, strike a familiar chord for Eve, who atthe beginning of the book had described to Adam her strange dream about the forbidden fruit and an unidentified tempter who tells her to ‘Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods/Thyself a goddess, not to earth confined’ (V: 77–8). Later in Book IX, just before she eats the fruit, Satan plays upon this same curious equation between eating and spirituality, ‘And what are gods that man may not become/As they, participating godlike food?’ (IX: 716–17).

Milton appears to be sewing into the poem a fabric of clues for the attentive reader,clues that suggest some sort of causal, psychological explanation for the Fall. In this instance it might appear that Raphael’s well meant, but perhaps misleading, discourse creates for Eve just the right amount of intriguing possibilities to make her decision to eat the fruit almost inevitable. In consequence, God’s statement that Raphael’s role is to ‘render man inexcusable’ sounds a little optimistic.

Books VI–VIII are concerned almost exclusively with Raphael’s instructive exchanges with Adam; Eve, not always present, is kept informed of this by Adam during their own conversations. Book VI principally involves Raphael’s description of Satan’s revolt, the subsequent battles and God’s victory. Book VII deals mainly with the history of Creation and in Book VIII Raphael explains to Adam the state and dimensions of the Cosmos. The detail of all this is of relatively slight significance for an understanding of the poem itself.Much of it involves an orthodox account of the Old Testament story of Creation and the only notable feature is Milton’s decision in Book VIII to follow, via Raphael, the ancient theory of Ptolemy that the earth is the centre of the universe. Copernicus, the sixteenth-century astronomer, had countered this with the then controversial model of the earth revolving around the sun, which Raphael alludes to (without of course naming Copernicus) but largely discounts. Milton had met Galileo and certainly knew of his confirmation of the Copernican model. His choice to retain the Ptolemaic system for Paradise Lost was not alluded to in his ex cathedr awriting and was probably made fordramatic purposes; in terms of man’s fate the earth was indeed at the centre of things.

More significant than the empirical details of Raphael’s disclosures is Adam’s level of understanding. Constantly, Raphael interrupts his account and speaks with Adam about God’s gift of reason, the power of the intellect, which is the principal distinction between human beings and other earthbound, sentient creatures. At the end of Book VI Raphael relates reason (563–76) to free will (520–35). Adam is told (and the advice will be oft repeated) that their future will depend not upon some prearranged ‘destiny’ but upon their own decisions and actions, but that they should maintain a degree of caution regarding how much they are able, as yet, to fully comprehend of God’s design and intent. In short, their future will be of their own making while their understanding of the broader framework within which they must make decisions is limited and partial. At the end of Book VI, for example, after Raphael has provided a lengthy account of the war in heaven he informs Adam that he should not take this too literally. It has been an allegory, an extended metaphor, a ‘measuring [of] things in Heaven by things on Earth’. (893)

In Book VIII, before his description of the Cosmos, Raphael again reminds Adam that he is not capable of fully appreciating its vast complexity.

The great architect Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge, His secrets to be scanned by them who ought

Rather admire; or if they list to try Conjecture, he his fabric of the heavens Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move His laughter at their quaint opinions wide

(VIII: 72–8)

This is frequently treated as an allusion to the ongoing debate on the validity of the Ptolemaic or the Copernican models of earth and the planets, but it also has a rhetorical function in sustaining a degree of tension between man’s gift of reason and the at once tantalising yet dangerous possibilities that might accompany its use. All of this carries significant, but by no means transparent, relevance from a number of theological issues with which Milton was involved; principally the Calvinist notion of predestination versus the Arminianist concept as free will as a determinant of fate [9–11].

Later in Book VIII (357–451) Adam tells Raphael of his first conversation with God just prior to the creation of Eve, which resembles a Socratic dialogue. Socrates, the Greek philosopher, engaged in a technique when instructing a pupil of not imposing a belief but sewing his discourse with enough speculations and possibilities to engage the pupil’s faculties of enquiry and reason. Through this exchange of questions and propositions they would move together toward a final, logically valid conclusion. God’s exchange with Adam follows this pattern. The following is a summary of it.

Adam laments his solitude. God says, well you’re not alone, you have other creatures,the angels and me. Yes, says Adam, but I want an equal partner. God replies: Considermy state. I don’t need a consort. Adam returns, most impressively, with the argument that God is a perfect self-sufficiency, but man must be complemented in order to multiply. Quite so, says God. This was my intention all along. And He creates Eve.

The relevance of this to Adam’s ongoing exchange with Raphael is unsettling. Stanley Fish suggests that it is meant to offer a further, tacit reminder to the reader of the rulesand preconditions that attend man’s pre-fallen state. ‘If the light of reason coincides with the word of God, well and good; if not reason must retire, and not fall into the presumption of denying or questioning what it cannot explain’ (1967:242). It reminded William Empson (1961) of the educational phenomenon of the Rule of Inverse Probability, where the student is less concerned with the attainment of absolute truth than with satisfying the expectations of the teacher: in short, Adam has used his gift of reason without really understanding what it is and to what it might lead. Is Adam being carefully and adequately prepared for the future (Fish) or is Raphael’s instruction presented to us as some kind of psychological explanation for the Fall (Empson)?

This interpretative difference underpins our reading of Books V– XII, and, to complicate matters further, indeed to heighten the dramatic tension of the narrative,Milton places Adam’s account of his exchange with God not too long before a similar conversation takes place between Eve and Satan, in Book IX just prior to her decision to eat the fruit.

Eve’s conversation with Satan (532–779) is the most important in the poem; it initiates the Fall of mankind. Satan’s speeches, particularly the second (678–733), display an impressive and logical deployment of fact and hypothesis. Eve does not understand the meaning of death, the threatened punishment for the eating of the fruit, and Satan explains:

ye shall not die: How should ye? By the fruit? It gives you life To knowledge. By the threatener? Look on me, Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live, And life more perfect have attained than fate Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot. Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast Is open?

(IX: 685–93)

Having raised the possibility that death is but a form of transformation beyond the merely physical, he delivers a very cunning follow-up.

So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off Human, to put on gods, death to be wished, Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.

And what are gods that man may not become As they, participating godlike food?

(IX: 713–17)

In short, he suggests that the fruit, forbidden but for reasons yet obscure, might be the key to that which is promised.

Eve’s reply to Satan’s extensive, even-handed listing of the ethical and practical considerations of her decision is equally thoughtful. She raises a question, ‘In plain then, what forbids he but to know/Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise? (758–9) and expands, ‘What fear I then, rather what know to fear/Under this ignorance of good and evil, /Of God or death, of law or penalty?’ Adam and Eve have continually been advised by Raphael of their state of relative ignorance while they have also been promised enlightenment. It is evident from Eve’s speech that she regards the rule of obedience as in some way part, as yet unspecified, of the existential puzzle which their own much promoted gift of reason will gradually enable them to untangle. They are aware that their observance of the rule is a token of their love and loyalty, but as Satan implies, such an edict is open to interpretation.

What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree

Import against his will, if all be his? Or is it envy, and can envy dwell In heavenly breasts?

(IX: 726–30)

Eve’s exchange with Satan inevitably prompts the reader to recall Adam’s very recent account of his own with God and, indeed, his extended dialogue with Raphael. In each instance the human figure is naïve, far less informed than their interlocutor, while the latter both instructs and encourages his pupil to rationalise and speculate. (Eve is unaware of Satan’s identity. He is disguised as a serpent and is, for all she knows, another agent of wisdom.) These parallels can be interpreted differently and the archetypal difference is evident between Christian and humanist readers. Of the former, Lewis argued that the parallels were meant to be recognised but were intended by Milton as a kind of re-enactment of the poem itself: the Christian reader – and in Lewis’s view the poem was intended only for Christian readers – should perceive him/herself as a version of Adam and Eve and resist the temptation to overreach their perceptual and intellectual subservience to God’s wisdom. Lewis held that the poem’s moral of obedience and restraint has the ‘desolating clarity’ of what we are taught in the nursery. Children might be incapable of understanding the ethical and moral framework which underpins their parents’ rules and edicts but they should recognise that these apparently arbitrary regulations are a reflection of the latter’s protective love. Empson countered this as follows: ‘A father may reasonably impose a random prohibition to test the character of his children, but anyone would agree that he should then judge an act of disobedience in the light of its intention’ (1961:161). Empson perceives the exchanges, particularly between Satan and Eve, not only as mitigating factors in Milton’s particular account ofthe Fall but also as explanations of how the Fall was made inevitable by God himself.Both agree that the reader is prompted to question God’s omniscient planning and strategies, while Lewis sees this as a warning and reminder that blind faith should be ouronly proper response and Empson that doubt informs Milton’s own rendering of the story.

Eve does of course eat the fruit, and during lines 896–1016 she confronts Adam with her act. Adam’s response and his eventual decision to follow Eve are intriguing because while the misuse, or misunderstanding, of the gift of reason was the significant factor forher Adam is affected as much by emotional, instinctive registers.

I feel The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh, of my bone thou art, and from thy state

Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.

(IX: 913–16)

This is addressed ‘to himself’, and then to Eve he states that

So forcible within my heart I feel The bond of nature draw me to my own, My own in thee, for what thou art is mine; Our state cannot be severed; we are one, One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.

(IX: 955–9)

And the episode is summed up by Milton:

She gave him of that fair enticing fruit With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat Against his better knowledge, not deceived,

But fondly overcome with female charm.

(IX: 996–9)

These passages raise questions about chronology and characterisation. We already know from Book VIII (607–17) that Adam appreciates that the love he feels for Eve (partly physical) partakes of his greater love for God (mutual and transcendent) and we might wonder why and how Adam seems able to move so rapidly to a state of almost obsessive physical bonding with her: ‘The link of nature’, ‘flesh of flesh’, ‘The bond of nature’, ‘My own in Thee’, ‘One flesh’. Moreover, during Milton’s description in Book IV of Adam and Eve’s innocent act of sexual liaison we were informed that the base, lust-fulfilling dimension of sex is a consequence of the Fall, and this is confirmed shortly after he too eats the fruit and they engage in acts ‘of amorous intent’ (IX: 1035). It seems odd, therefore, that Adam, still unfallen, seems to be persuaded to eat the fruit by the post-lapsarian instinct of pure physical desire.

One explanation of why Milton offers this puzzling, slightly inconsistent scenario could be implicit in his own rationale of Adam’s decision; ‘not deceived/But fondly overcome with female charm’ (998–9). From this it would seem that her explanation of the act of disobedience is of virtually no significance compared with the sub-rational power of attraction that she shares, or will share, with the rest of her gender.

Charges of misogyny against Milton go back as far as Samuel Johnson and are generally founded upon the biographical formula that the failure of his first marriage to Mary Powell was the motive for his divorce tracts and that these personal and ideological prejudices spilled over into his literary writing. Since the 1970s more sophisticated feminist critics have argued that the distinctive, archetypal roles played out by Adam and Eve are less a consequence of Milton’s personal state of mind and more part of a shared, patriarchal dialectic in which ongoing social conventions are justified and perpetuated through a mythology of religion and culture [166–74].

Here the narrative of the Fall is continued, with God observing the act of disobedience and sending the Son to pronounce judgement on Adam and Eve. The death sentence is deferred and they, and their offspring, are condemned to a limited tenure of earthly existence, much of it to be spent in thankless toil and sorrow (103–228). There then follows a lengthy section (228–720) in which Satan and his followers have their celebrations ruined by being turned into serpents and beset by unquenchable thirst and unassuagble appetite – so much for victory. The most important part is from 720 to the end of the book, during which Adam and Eve contemplate suicide. Adam considers this in an introspective soliloquy.

But say That death be not one stroke, as I supposed,

Bereaving sense, but endless misery From this day onward, which I feel begun Both in me, and without me, and so last To perpetuity.

(X: 808–130)

Adam is aware that self-inflicted death will involve a perpetuation, not a completion, of his tortured condition. This realisation prompts the circling, downward spiral of his inconclusive thoughts, until Eve arrives. She readily accepts blame for their condition.Adam is eventually moved by her contrition and they comfort each other. Crucially, the factor that enables Adam to properly organise his own thoughts is Eve’s proposition that rather than kill themselves they should spare their offspring the consequences of their act and refuse to breed; ‘Childless thou art, childless remain’ (989). Adam points out that this would both further upset the God-given natural order of things and, most importantly, grant a final victory to Satan. He seems at last to be exercising his much promoted gift of reason in a manner that is concurrent with the will of God, which implies that reason is tempered by thoughtful restraint not through any form of enlightenment, but from punishment. This impression finds its theological counterpart in what is termed ‘The Paradox of the Fortunate Fall’. This notion was first considered in depth by St.Augustine, and A.O. Lovejoy (1945 and 1960) traces its history up to and including Paradise Lost . The Fall is both paradoxical and fortunate because in the latter case it wasa necessary stage in man’s journey toward wisdom and awareness, while in the former it reminds us that we should not continually question and investigate God’s will.

Again we are returned to the conflict between Christian and humanist readings of the poem. The Augustinian interpretation would be a reminder that we should not concern ourselves too much with the apparent inconsistencies and paradoxes sewn into the poem,while a humanist reading would raise the question of why Milton deliberately,provocatively accentuates such concerns.

At the end of the book (1041–96) we are offered the spectacle of Adam and Eve no longer pondering such absolutes as the will of God and the nature of the cosmos but concentrating on more practical matters, such as how they might protect themselves from the new and disagreeable climate by rubbing two sticks together. Is Milton implicitly sanctioning the Augustinian notion of investigative restraint or is he presenting the originators of humanity as embodiments of pathetic, pitiable defeat?

Books XI and XII

In these the angel Michael shows Adam a vision of the future, drawn mainly from the Old Testament but sometimes bearing a close resemblance to the condition of life in seventeenth-century England. Kenneth Muir (1955) argued that although the two closing books were essential to the scriptural scheme of the poem they are ‘poetically on a much lower level’. What he means is that there is no longer any need for Milton to generate dramatic or logical tension: the future, as disclosed by Michael, has already arrived.

Adam is particularly distressed by the vision of Cain and Abel (XI: 429–60), the ‘sight/Of terror, foul and ugly to behold/Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!’ (463–5). Michael has already explained how, by some form of genetic inheritance, Adam is responsible for this spectacle of brother murdering brother. And we should remind ourselves that many of the first readers of this account had memories of brothers, sons and fathers facing one another across English battlefields; indeed its author’s own brother was on the Royalist side.

These two are brethren, Adam, and to come

Out of thy loins; the unjust the just hath slain,

For envy that his brother’s offering found From heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact Will be avenged, and other’s faith approved.

(XI: 454–8)

The tragic consequences of a perpetual rivalry between two figures who believe that theirs is the better ‘offering’ to God might easily be regarded as a vision of the consequences of the Reformation. The specific description of war (638–81) pays allegiance to the Old Testament and Virgil but would certainly evoke memories of when Englishmen, barely a decade earlier,

Lay siege, encamped; by battery, scale and mine,

Assaulting; others from the wall defend With dart and javelin, stones and sulphurous fire;

On each hand slaughter and gigantic deeds.

(XI: 656–9)

One wonders if Milton’s own experience of the Civil War, the Cromwellian Commonwealth and the Restoration, when death and destruction were perpetuated by man’s perception of God’s will, was in his mind when he wrote these passages. Hill, the Marxist historian, (1977) is in no doubt that it was and he devotes a subsection to apolitical-historical decoding of Books XI and XII (380–90). Hill concludes that

They [the books] represent Milton’s attempt to be utterly realistic in facing the worst without despair. It seemed to be true that there was a cyclical return of evil after every good start … God’s people in England after 1660 must learn to escape from history as circular treadmill, must become free to choose the good, as the English people had failed to chose it during the Revolution. (386)

For Hill, Milton regarded the political swings and catastrophes of the previous three decades as a concentrated version of man’s perpetual struggle and continual failure to build something better from his fallen condition. Moreover, Hill argues that the essential parallel between Adam’s vision of the future and Milton’s own of the recent past was that Milton perceived both as part of an extended process of man’s ‘reeducation and ultimate recognition of God’s purposes.’ (387) In short, the Cromwellian Revolution failed because man was not yet able to fully comprehend and engage with the legacy of the Fall.

Alongside the particulars of war and destruction Adam is shown more general, but no less distressing, pictures of the human condition. After enquiring of Michael if there arenot better ways to die than in battle Adam is presented with the following.

A lazar house it seemed, wherein were laid Numbers of all diseased, all maladies Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs, Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide wasting pestilence, Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint racking rheums.

Dire was the tossing, deep the groans, despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch; And over them triumphant death his dart Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.

(XI: 479–93)

Disease, disablement, terminal illness and much pain will be inescapable and the onlymeans by which their worst effects might be moderated is through abstinence andrestraint: the pursuit of sensual pleasure brings its own form of physical punishment. Justprior to disclosing the ‘lazar house’ to Adam Michael informs him that he is doing so ‘that thou mayst know/What misery the inabstinence of Eve/ Shall bring on men’ (475–7) and yet again the reader feels a puzzling engagement with narrative chronology. At no point in Eve’s book IX exchange with Satan does she even inadvertently disclose that hedonism plays some part in her desire to eat the fruit, but Michael clearly presents acausal relation between what she did and the self destructive in abstinence of man’s fallen state. During his conversations with Raphael, before the Fall, Adam might well have enquired about such apparent discontinuities, but not now because as becomes evident in Book XII Michael’s instructive regimen is informed by, and apparently achieves, a different purpose.

Most of Book XII charts a tour of the Old and parts of the New Testament – Noah, The Flood, the Tower of Babel, the journey to the Promised Land and the coming of Christ –but its most important sections are towards the end when Adam is given the opportunityto reflect on what he has seen.

How soon hath thy prediction, seer blest, Measured this transcient world, the race of time,

Till time stand fixed: beyond is all abyss, Eternity, whose end no eye can reach. Greatly instructed I shall hence depart, Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill Of knowledge, what this vessel can contain; Beyond which was my folly to aspire. Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best, And love with fear the only God, to walk As in his presence, ever to observe His providence, and on him sole depend.

(XII: 553–64)

Michael answers, approvingly:

This having learned, thou hast attained the sum

Of wisdom; hope no higher.

(XII: 575–6)

Without actually comparing his experiences with Michael with those before the Fall Adam is clearly aware that the cause of the Fall was his inclination to ‘aspire’ to an over-ambitious, extended state of ‘knowledge’. One significant difference between Raphael’s and Michael’s methods of instruction is that while the former operated almost exclusively within the medium of language, the principal instrument of speculation and enquiry, the latter relies more upon empirical and tangible evidence, pictures. This is appropriate,given that Michael’s intention is to present Adam with indisputable, ineluctable facts, matters not open to debate, and in doing so to reinforce the lesson that ‘wisdom’ has its limits; ‘hope no higher’. The question that has attended practically all of the critical debates on the poem is encapsulated in three lines at the centre of Adam’s speech.

Greatly instructed I shall hence depart, Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill Of knowledge.

(XII: 537–9)

The question is this: does Adam speak for the reader? And there are questions within the question. Did Milton intend the reader to share Adam’s state of intellectual subordination to a mindset ‘beyond which was [his] folly to aspire’? Are the tantalising complexities of the poem – the presentations of God and Satan, the intricate moral and theological problems raised in the narrative – designed to tempt the reader much as Adam had been tempted, and to remind us of the consequences? Or did Milton himself face uncertainties and did he use the poem not so much to resolve as to confront them? As Part III will show, these matters, after 300 years of often perplexed commentary and debate, remain unsettled.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Aers, D. and Hodge, B., ‘“Rational Burning”: Milton and Sex and Marriage’ (1981), References from Zunder (1999). Barker, A.E., Milton and the Puritan Dilemma, Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1942). Barker, F., The Tremulous Private Body: Essays on Subjection, London: Methuen (1984). Belloc, H., Milton, London: Cassell (1935). Belsey, C., John Milton. Language, Gender, Power, Oxford: Blackwell (1988). Bennett, J.S., ‘God, Satan and King Charles: Milton’s Royal Portraits’, PMLA 92 (1977) pp. 441–57. Blamires, H., Milton’s Creation, London: Methuen (1971). Bloom, Harold, The Anxiety of Influence, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1973). Bradford, R., ‘Milton’s Graphic Poetics’, in Nyquist and Ferguson (1987). Bradford, R., Paradise Lost. An Open Guide, Buckingham: Open University Press (1992). Bradford, R., Silence and Sound. Theories of Poetics from the 18th Century, London: Associated University Presses (1992). Bridges, R., Milton’s Prosody, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1921). Brooks, C., The Well Wrought Urn. Studies in the Structure of Poetry, London: Methuen (1968, first published 1947). Brown, C., John Milton. A Literary Life, London: Macmillan (1995). Burnett, A., Milton’s Style, London: Longman (1981). Bush, D., John Milton. A Sketch of His Life and Writings, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson (1964). Champagne, C., ‘Adam and his “Other Self” in Paradise Lost: A Lacanian study in Psychic Development’, in Zunder (1999). Corns, T., ‘Milton’s Quest for Respectabiltiy’, Modern Language Review 77 (1982). Corns, T., Milton’s Language, Oxford: Blackwell (1990). Danielson, D. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Milton, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989). Darbishire, Helen (ed.), The Early Lives of John Milton, London: Constable (1932). Davie, D., ‘Syntax and Music in Paradise Lost’, The Living Milton, ed., F. Kermode, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1960). Davies, S., Milton, London: Harvester (1993). Dyson, A.E. and Lovelock, J. (eds), Milton: Paradise Lost. A Casebook, London: Macmillan (1973). Eagleton, T., ‘The God That Failed’, in Nyquist and Ferguson (1987). Eliot, T.S., ‘Milton I’ (1936); ‘Milton II’ (1947), in On Poetry and Poets, London: Faber (1957). Eliot, T.S., ‘The Metaphysical Poets’ (1921), in Selected Essays, London: Faber (1961). Ellwood, T., History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood, London (1714). Emma, R.D., Milton’s Grammar, The Hague: Mouton (1964) Empson, W., Milton’s God, London: Chatto (1961). Evans, J. Martin, Milton’s Imperial Epic, Ithaca: Cornwell University Press (1996). Fallon, R.T., Captain or Colonel, Columbia: Missouri University Press (1984). Ferry, A., Milton’s Epic Voice: The Narrator in Paradise Lost, Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press (1963). Fish, S., ‘What its Like to Read L’Allegro and I’l Penseroso’ (1975), in Is There a Text in This Class? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1980). Fish, S., Surprized By Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost, London: Macmillan (1967). Fixler, M., Milton and the Kingdoms of God, Northwestern University Press (1964). Fletcher, H.F., The Intellectual Development of John Milton, Illinois: Illinois University Press (1956). Forgacs, D., ‘Marxist Literary Theories’, in Modern Literary Theory, (eds) A. Jefferson and D. Robey, London: Batsford (1982). French, J.M. (ed.), Life Records of John Milton, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press (1949–58). Froula, C., ‘When Eve Reads Milton: Undoing the Canonical Economy’ (1983). References from Patterson (1992). Geisst, C., The Political Thought of John Milton, London: Macmillan (1984). Gilbert, S., ‘Patriarchal Poetry and Women Readers: Reflections on Milton’s Bogey’, PMLA 93 (1978), pp.368–82. Graves, Robert, Wife to Mr. Milton, London: Cassell (1942). Greenlaw, E., ‘A Better Teaching Than Aquinas’ Studies in Philology, 14 (1917), pp. 196–217 Halkett, J., Milton and the Idea of Matrimony, New Haven: Yale University Press (1970). Halpern, R., ‘The Great Instauration: imaginary narratives in Milton’s “Nativity Ode”’, in Nyquist and Ferguson (1987). Hanford, J., John Milton, Englishman, New York: Crown (1949). Hartman, G., ‘Adam on The Grass with Balsamora’ (1970) in Zunder (1999). Havens, R.D., The Influence of Milton on English Poetry, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1922). Hayley, W., Life of Milton, London (1794). Hill, Christopher, Milton and the English Revolution, London: Faber and Faber (1977). Honigman, E.A.J. (ed.), Milton’s Sonnets, London: Macmillan (1966). Hooker, E.N. (ed.), The Critical Works of John Dennis, 2 Vols, Baltimore: John Hopkins Press (1939–43). Hopkins, G.M., Selected Letters, ed. C. Phillips, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1990). Hunter, W.B. (ed.), A Milton Encyclopedia, 7 Vols, London: Associated University Presses (1978). Ivimay, Joseph, John Milton: His Life and Times, Religious and Political Opinions, London (1833). Jameson, F., ‘Religion and Ideology: A Political Reading of Paradise Lost’ (1986). References from Zunder (1999). Johnson, S., Lives of the Poets, 1779–81; references from reprints in Oxford Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I, ed. Kermode, F. et al., Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kelley, M., This Great Argument, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (1941). Kendrick, C., Milton. A Study in Ideology and Form, New York: Methuen (1986). Kermode, F. (ed.), The Living Milton: Essays by Various Hands, London: Routledge (1960). Kerrigan, W., The Sacred Garden, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1983). Landy, M., ‘Kinship and The Role of Women in Paradise Lost’, Milton Studies 4 (1972), pp.3–18. Le Comte, E., Milton and Sex, London: Macmillan (1978). Leavis, F.R. Revaluation, London: Chatto (1936). Leishman, J.B., Milton’s Minor Poems, London: Hutchinson (1969). Levi, P., Eden Renewed. The Public and Private Life of John Milton, London: Macmillan (1996). Lewalski, B.K., ‘Milton on Women – Yet Once More’, Milton Studies 6, (1974), pp.3–20. Lewalski, B.K., Milton’s Brief Epic, Providence (1966). Lewis, C.S., A Preface to Paradise Lost, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1942). Lovejoy, A.O., The Great Chain of Being: A Study in the History of an Idea, New York: Harper and Row (1960). Macauley, T., The Works of Lord Macauley, ed. Lady Trevelyan, Vol. 5, London: Longman (1875). Martz, L., ‘The Rising Poet, 1645’ (1965), in Poet of Exile: A Study of Milton’s Poetry, New Haven: Yale University Press (1980). Masson, D., Life of Milton, 7 Vols, London (1859–94). McColley, D., Milton’s Eve, Champagne: Illinois University Press (1983). Milner, A., John Milton and the English Revolution, London: Macmillan (1981). Milton, John, The Complete Prose Works of John Milton, ed. D.M. Wolfe, 8 Vols, New Haven: Yale University Press (1953–82). Milton, John, The Poems, eds J. Carey and A. Fowler, London: Longman (1968). Milton, John, The Works of John Milton, ed. F.A. Patterson, 20 Vols, New York: Columbia University Press (1931–40). Muir, K., John Milton, London: Longman, Green & Co (1955). Myers, W., Milton and Free Will: An Essay in Criticism and Philosophy, London: Croom Helm (1987). References from Patterson (1992). Newlyn, L., Paradise Lost and the Romantic Reader, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1993). Nicolson, M., A Reader’s Guide to John Milton, London: Thames and Hudson (1964). Norbrook, D., ‘The Politics of Milton’s Early Poetry’, (1984). References from Patterson (1992). Nyquist, M. and Ferguson, M. (eds), Re-Membering Milton. Essays on the Texts and Traditions, London: Methuen (1987). Nyquist, M., ‘Fallen Differences, Phallogocentric Discourses: Losing Paradise Lost to History’ (1988). References from Patterson (1992). Nyquist, M., ‘The Genesis of Gendered Subjectivity in the Divorce Tracts and in Paradise Lost’, in Re-Membering Milton, eds Nyquist and Ferguson, London: Methuen (1987). References from Zunder (1999). Oras, A., Milton’s Editors and Commentators from Patrick Hume to Henry John Todd 16959–1801, Tartu (1930). Oras, A., Milton’s Blank Verse and the Chronology of His Major Poems, Gainsville: University of Illinois Press (1953). Parker, W.R., Milton. A Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1968). Patrides, C.A. (ed.), Approaches to Paradise Lost, London: Edward Arnold (1968). Patrides, C.A., Adamson, J.H. and Hunter, W.B., Bright Essence. Studies in Milton’s Theology, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (1971). Patrides, C.A., Milton and the Christian Tradition, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1966). Patterson, A. (ed.), John Milton: Longman Critical Reader, London: Longman (1992). Phillips, E., Life of Milton, (1694). References from Darbishire (1932). Prince, F.T., The Italian Element in Milton’s Verse, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1954). Quint, D., ‘David’s Census: Milton’s Politics and Paradise Regained’, in Nyquist and Ferguson (1987). Rajan, B., Paradise Lost and the 17th Century Reader(1947). Referenes from Dyson and Lovelock (1973). Raleigh, W., Milton, London (1900). Rapaport, H., Milton and the Post Modern, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (1983). Revard, S.P., The War in Heaven, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press (1980). Richmond, H., The Christian Revolutionary: John Milton, Berkeley: University of California Press (1974). Ricks, C., Milton’s Grand Style, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1963). Ricks, C., Tennyson, London: Macmillan (1972). Riggs, W.G., The Christian Poet in Paradise Lost, Berkeley: University of California Press (1972). Ross, M., Milton and Royalism, Ithaca: Cornell University Press (1943). Rowse, A.L., Milton the Puritan, London: Macmillan (1977). Rudrum, A. (ed.), Milton. Modern Judgements, London: Macmillan (1968). Saintsbury, G., A History of English Prosody, 3 Vols, London (1906–10). Schwartz, R., Remembering and Repeating: Biblical Creation in Paradise Lost, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1988). Sewell, A., A Study of Milton’s Christian Doctrine, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1939). Shawcross, J.T. (ed.), Milton. The Critical Heritage, Vols I and II, London: Routledge (1970 and 1972). Smart, John (ed.), The Sonnets of Milton, Glasgow (1921). Spencer Hill, J., John Milton: Poet, Priest and Prophet, London (1979). Sprott, S.E., Milton’s Art of Prosody, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1953). Stein, A., Answerable Style, University of Minnesota Press (1953). Stocker, M., Paradise Lost: The Critics’ Debate, London: Macmillan (1988). Stroup, T.B., Religious Rite and Ceremony in Milton’s Poetry, Lexington: University of Kentucky Press (1968). Svendsen, K., Milton and Science, New York: Greenwood Press (1956). Tillyard, E.M.W., Milton, London: Chatto and Windus (1930). Tillyard, E.M.W., The Miltonic Setting, Past and Present, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1938). Treip, M., Milton’s Punctuation and the Changing English Usage, London: Methuen (1970). Turner, J.G., One Flesh: Paradisal Marriage and Sexual Relations in the Age of Milton, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1987). Tuve, R., Image and Themes in Five Poems By Milton, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1957). Waldock, A.J.A., Paradise Lost and its Critics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1947). Webber, J.M., ‘The Politics of Poetry: Feminism and Paradise Lost’, Milton Studies 14 (1980), pp.3–24. Wedgwood, C.V., Milton and His World, London: Lutterworth (1969). Whiting, G.W., Milton’s Literary Milieu, New York: Russell and Russell (1964). Wilding, M., ‘Milton’s Early Radicalism’ (1987) in Patterson (1992). Wilding, M., ‘Milton’s Radical Epic’, in Writing and Radicalism, (ed.) J. Lucas, London: Longman (1996). Wilson, A.N., The Life of John Milton, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1983). Wittreich, J. (ed.), The Romantics on Milton, Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University Press (1970). Wittreich, J., Feminist Milton, Ithaca: Cornwell University Press (1987). Wittreich, J., Milton’s Tradition and his Legacy, California: Huntingdon Library (1979). Wright, E., ‘Modern Psychoanalytic Criticism’ in Modern Literary Theory, eds A. Jefferson and D. Robey, London: Batsford (1982). Zunder, W. (ed.), Paradise Lost. New Casebooks, London: Macmillan (1999).

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• Introduction
• Front Matter

THE ARGUMENT

This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was plac't : Then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many Legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his Crew into the great Deep. Which action past over, the Poem hasts into the midst of things , presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, describ'd here , not in the Center (for Heaven and Earth may be suppos'd as yet not made, certainly not yet accurst ) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest call'd Chaos : Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning Lake, thunder-struck and astonisht , after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in Order and Dignity lay by him; they confer of thir miserable fall. Satan awakens all his Legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded; They rise, thir Numbers, array of Battel , thir chief Leaders nam'd , according to the Idols known afterwards in Canaan and the Countries adjoyning . To these Satan directs his Speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new World and new kind of Creature to be created, according to an ancient Prophesie or report in Heaven; for that Angels were long before this visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers . To find out the truth of this Prophesie , and what to determin thereon he refers to a full Councel . What his Associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel .

OF Mans First Disobedience , and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast Brought Death into the World, and all our woe , With loss of Eden , till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat , [ 5 ] Sing Heav'nly Muse , that on the secret top Of Oreb , or of Sinai , didst inspire That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed , In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth Rose out of Chaos : Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ] Delight thee more, and Siloa 's Brook that flow'd Fast by the Oracle of God ; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song , That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th' Aonian Mount , while it pursues [ 15 ] Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime . And chiefly Thou O Spirit , that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st ; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread [ 20 ] Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant : What in me is dark Illumin , what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert Eternal Providence , [ 25 ] And justifie the wayes of God to men.

Say first , for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State, Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off [ 30 ] From thir Creator, and transgress his Will For one restraint , Lords of the World besides? Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ] The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride Had cast him out from Heav'n , with all his Host Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in Glory above his Peers, He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ] If he oppos'd ; and with ambitious aim Against the Throne and Monarchy of God Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ] With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms. Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night [ 50 ] To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquisht , rowling in the fiery Gulfe Confounded though immortal: But his doom Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [ 55 ] Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes That witness'd huge affliction and dismay Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: At once as far as Angels kenn he views The dismal Situation waste and wilde , [ 60 ] A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great Furnace flam'd , yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Serv'd onely to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace [ 65 ] And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd : Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd [ 70 ] For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'd In utter darkness, and thir portion set As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole . O how unlike the place from whence they fell! [ 75 ] There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, He soon discerns, and weltring by his side One next himself in power, and next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd [ 80 ] Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy, And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan , with bold words Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

If thou beest he; But O how fall'n ! how chang'd From him, who in the happy Realms of Light [ 85 ] Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst out-shine Myriads though bright: If he Whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize , Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd [ 90 ] In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest From what highth fall'n , so much the stronger prov'd He with his Thunder: and till then who knew The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those, Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage [ 95 ] Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though chang'd in outward lustre ; that fixt mind And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit, That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along [ 100 ] Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n , And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? [ 105 ] All is not lost; the unconquerable Will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield: And what is else not to be overcome? That Glory never shall his wrath or might [ 110 ] Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deifie his power, Who from the terrour of this Arm so late Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed, That were an ignominy and shame beneath [ 115 ] This downfall ; since by Fate the strength of Gods And this Empyreal substance cannot fail, Since through experience of this great event In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't , We may with more successful hope resolve [ 120 ] To wage by force or guile eternal Warr Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n .

So spake th' Apostate Angel, though in pain, [ 125 ] Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare : And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer.

O Prince , O Chief of many Throned Powers , That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds [ 130 ] Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King; And put to proof his high Supremacy, Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate, Too well I see and rue the dire event, That with sad overthrow and foul defeat [ 135 ] Hath lost us Heav'n , and all this mighty Host In horrible destruction laid thus low, As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains Invincible, and vigour soon returns, [ 140 ] Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state Here swallow'd up in endless misery. But what if he our Conquerour , (whom I now Of force believe Almighty, since no less Then such could hav orepow'rd such force as ours) [ 145 ] Have left us this our spirit and strength intire Strongly to suffer and support our pains, That we may so suffice his vengeful ire, Or do him mightier service as his thralls By right of Warr , what e're his business be [ 150 ] Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire, Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep; What can it then avail though yet we feel Strength undiminisht , or eternal being To undergo eternal punishment? [ 155 ] Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd .

Fall'n Cherube , to be weak is miserable Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure, To do ought good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our sole delight, [ 160 ] As being the contrary to his high will Whom we resist. If then his Providence Out of our evil seek to bring forth good , Our labour must be to pervert that end, And out of good still to find means of evil; [ 165 ] Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb His inmost counsels from thir destind aim. But see the angry Victor hath recall'd His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit [ 170 ] Back to the Gates of Heav'n : The Sulphurous Hail Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder, Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, [ 175 ] Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep. Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn, Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe. Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde , [ 180 ] The seat of desolation, voyd of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend From off the tossing of these fiery waves, There rest, if any rest can harbour there, [ 185 ] And reassembling our afflicted Powers , Consult how we may henceforth most offend Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, How overcome this dire Calamity, What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, [ 190 ] If not what resolution from despare .

Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes That sparkling blaz'd , his other Parts besides Prone on the Flood, extended long and large [ 195 ] Lay floating many a rood , in bulk as huge As whom the Fables name of monstrous size, Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove, Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast [ 200 ] Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream: Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam The Pilot of some small night- founder'd Skiff, Deeming some Island, oft , as Sea-men tell, [ 205 ] With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes : So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay Chain'd on the burning Lake , nor ever thence [ 210 ] Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs, That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation, while he sought [ 215 ] Evil to others, and enrag'd might see How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn On Man by him seduc't , but on himself Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd . [ 220 ] Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames Drivn backward slope thir pointing spires, and rowld In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid Vale. Then with expanded wings he stears his flight [ 225 ] Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land He lights, if it were Land that ever burn'd With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire; And such appear'd in hue, as when the force [ 230 ] Of subterranean wind transports a Hill Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side Of thundring Ætna , whose combustible And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire, Sublim'd with Mineral fury , aid the Winds, [ 235 ] And leave a singed bottom all involv'd With stench and smoak : Such resting found the sole Of unblest feet.  Him followed his next Mate, Both glorying to have scap't the Stygian flood As Gods , and by thir own recover'd strength, [ 240 ] Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime , Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat That we must change for Heav'n , this mournful gloom For that celestial light? Be it so, since he [ 245 ] Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid What shall be right: fardest from him is best Whom reason hath equald , force hath made supream Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours , hail [ 250 ] Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time. The mind is its own place , and in it self Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n . [ 255 ] What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less then he Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: [ 260 ] Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n . But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, Th' associates and copartners of our loss [ 265 ] Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool , And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy Mansion, or once more With rallied Arms to try what may be yet Regaind in Heav'n , or what more lost in Hell? [ 270 ]

So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub Thus answer'd . Leader of those Armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld , If once they hear that voyce , thir liveliest pledge Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft [ 275 ] In worst extreams , and on the perilous edge Of battel when it rag'd , in all assaults Thir surest signal, they will soon resume New courage and revive, though now they lye Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire, [ 280 ] As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd , No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth .

He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend Was moving toward the shoar ; his ponderous shield Ethereal temper , massy, large and round, [ 285 ] Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views At Ev'ning from the top of Fesole , Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands, [ 290 ] Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe. His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast Of some great Ammiral , were but a wand, He walkt with to support uneasie steps [ 295 ] Over the burning Marle , not like those steps On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire; Nathless he so endur'd , till on the Beach Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd [ 300 ] His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High overarch't imbowr ; or scatterd sedge Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd [ 305 ] Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore thir floating Carkases [ 310 ] And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood, Under amazement of thir hideous change. He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates, [ 315 ] Warriers , the Flowr of Heav'n , once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can sieze Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place After the toyl of Battel to repose Your wearied vertue , for the ease you find [ 320 ] To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n ? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn To adore the Conquerour ? who now beholds Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns, till anon [ 325 ] His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern Th' advantage, and descending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe . Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n . [ 330 ]

They heard, and were abasht , and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceave the evil plight [ 335 ] In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd Innumerable. As when the potent Rod Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud [ 340 ] Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind, That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile : So numberless were those bad Angels seen Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell [ 345 ] 'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires; Till, as a signal giv'n , th' uplifted Spear Of thir great Sultan waving to direct Thir course, in even ballance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; [ 350 ] A multitude, like which the populous North Pour'd never from her frozen loyns , to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian sands. [ 355 ] Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood Thir great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, Princely Dignities, And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones; [ 360 ] Though of thir Names in heav'nly Records now Be no memorial blotted out and ras'd By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life . Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve Got them new Names , till wandring ore the Earth, [ 365 ] Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man, By falsities and lyes the greatest part Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake God thir Creator, and th' invisible Glory of him that made them, to transform [ 370 ] Oft to the Image of a Brute, a dorn'd With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold, And Devils to adore for Deities : Then were they known to men by various Names, And various Idols through the Heathen World. [ 375 ] Say, Muse, thir Names then known, who first, who last, Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch, At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof? [ 380 ] The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God , Thir Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd Among the Nations round, and durst abide [ 385 ] Jehovah thundring out of Sion , thron'd Between the Cherubim ; yea, often plac'd Within his Sanctuary it self thir Shrines, Abominations; and with cursed things His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd , [ 390 ] And with thir darkness durst affront his light. First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents tears, Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud Thir childrens cries unheard , that past through fire [ 395 ] To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain, In Argob and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood , the wisest heart [ 400 ] Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His Temple right against the Temple of God On that opprobrious Hill , and made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd , the Type of Hell. [ 405 ] Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild Of Southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon And Horonaim, Seons Realm, beyond The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, [ 410 ] And Eleale to th' Asphaltick Pool. Peor his other Name, when he entic'd Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlarg'd [ 415 ] Even to that Hill of scandal , by the Grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate; Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. With these came they, who from the bordring flood Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts [ 420 ] Egypt from Syrian ground, had general Names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male, These Feminine. For Spirits when they please Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is thir Essence pure , [ 425 ] Not ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose Dilated or condens't , bright or obscure, Can execute thir aerie purposes, [ 430 ] And works of love or enmity fulfill. For those the Race of Israel oft forsook Thir living strength , and unfrequented left His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down To bestial Gods; for which thir heads as low [ 435 ] Bow'd down in Battel , sunk before the Spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte, Queen of Heav'n , with crescent Horns; To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon [ 440 ] Sidonian Virgins paid thir Vows and Songs, In Sion also not unsung, where stood Her Temple on th' offensive Mountain , built By that uxorious King , whose heart though large, Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell [ 445 ] To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate In amorous dittyes all a Summers day, While smooth Adonis from his native Rock [ 450 ] Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat, Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led [ 455 ] His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries Of alienated Judah. Next came one Who mourn'd in earnest, when the Captive Ark Maim'd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, [ 460 ] Where he fell flat, and sham'd his Worshipers: Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the Coast Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon [ 465 ] And Accaron and Gaza 's frontier bounds. Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful Seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertil Banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. He also against the house of God was bold: [ 470 ] A Leper once he lost and gain'd a King, Ahaz his sottish Conquerour, whom he drew Gods Altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious off'rings , and adore the Gods [ 475 ] Whom he had vanquisht . After these appear'd A crew who under Names of old Renown, Osiris, Isis, Orus and their Train With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd Fanatic Egypt and her Priests, to seek [ 480 ] Thir wandring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape Th' infection when thir borrow'd Gold compos'd The Calf in Oreb : and the Rebel King Doubl'd that sin in Bethel and in Dan, [ 485 ] Lik'ning his Maker to the Grazed Ox, Jehovah, who in one Night when he pass'd From Egypt marching, equal'd with one stroke Both her first born and all her bleating Gods. Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd [ 490 ] Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood Or Altar smoak'd ; yet who more oft then hee In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest Turns Atheist, as did Ely's Sons , who fill'd [ 495 ] With lust and violence the house of God. In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs , And injury and outrage: And when Night [ 500 ] Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Expos'd a Matron to avoid worse rape . [ 505 ] These were the prime in order and in might; The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd , Th' Ionian Gods , of Javans Issue held Gods, yet confest later then Heav'n and Earth Thir boasted Parents ; Titan Heav'ns first born [ 510 ] With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove His own and Rhea's Son like measure found; So Jove usurping reign'd : these first in Creet And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top [ 515 ] Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle Air Thir highest Heav'n ; or on the Delphian Cliff, Or in Dodona , and through all the bounds Of Doric Land ; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian Fields , [ 520 ] And ore the Celtic roam'd the utmost Isles . All these and more came flocking; but with looks Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd Obscure some glimps of joy, to have found thir chief Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost [ 525 ] In loss it self; which on his count'nance cast Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth, not substance , gently rais'd Thir fainting courage, and dispel'd thir fears. [ 530 ] Then strait commands that at the warlike sound Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard His mighty Standard; that proud honour claim'd Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall: Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld [ 535 ] Th' Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc't Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblaz'd , Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds: [ 540 ] At which the universal Host upsent A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night. All in a moment through the gloom were seen Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air [ 545 ] With Orient Colours waving: with them rose A Forest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms Appear'd , and serried shields in thick array Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood [ 550 ] Of Flutes and soft Recorders; such as rais'd To hight of noblest temper Hero's old Arming to Battel , and in stead of rage Deliberate valour breath'd , firm and unmov'd With dread of death to flight or foul retreat, [ 555 ] Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches, troubl'd thoughts, and chase Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they Breathing united force with fixed thought [ 560 ] Mov'd on in silence to soft Pipes that charm'd Thir painful steps o're the burnt soyle ; and now Advanc't in view, they stand, a horrid Front Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise Of Warriers old with order'd Spear and Shield, [ 565 ] Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief Had to impose: He through the armed Files Darts his experienc't eye, and soon traverse The whole Battalion views, thir order due, Thir visages and stature as of Gods, [ 570 ] Thir number last he summs . And now his heart Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength Glories: For never since created man, Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these Could merit more then that small infantry [ 575 ] Warr'd on by Cranes : though all the Giant brood Of Phlegra with th' Heroic Race were joyn'd That fought at Theb's and Ilium, on each side Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds In Fable or Romance of Uthers Son [ 580 ] Begirt with British and Armoric Knights; And all who since, Baptiz'd or Infidel Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco , or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore [ 585 ] When Charlemain with all his Peerage fell By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd Thir dread commander: he above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent [ 590 ] Stood like a Towr ; his form had yet not lost All her Original brightness, nor appear'd Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th' excess Of Glory obscur'd : As when the Sun new ris'n Looks through the Horizontal misty Air [ 595 ] Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds On half the Nations, and with fear of change Perplexes Monarchs . Dark'n'd so, yet shon Above them all th' Arch Angel: but his face [ 600 ] Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht , and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under Browes Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion to behold [ 605 ] The fellows of his crime, the followers rather (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd For ever now to have thir lot in pain, Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc't Of Heav'n , and from Eternal Splendors flung [ 610 ] For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood, Thir Glory witherd . As when Heavens Fire Hath scath'd the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines, With singed top thir stately growth though bare Stands on the blasted Heath. He now prepar'd [ 615 ] To speak; whereat thir doubl'd Ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half enclose him round With all his Peers: attention held them mute. Thrice he assayd , and thrice in spight of scorn, Tears such as Angels weep , burst forth: at last [ 620 ] Words interwove with sighs found out thir way.

O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change [ 625 ] Hateful to utter: but what power of mind Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd , How such united force of Gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse? [ 630 ] For who can yet beleeve , though after loss, That all these puissant Legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav'n , shall fail to re-ascend Self- rais'd , and repossess thir native seat? For mee be witness all the Host of Heav'n , [ 635 ] If counsels different, or danger shun'd By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns Monarch in Heav'n , till then as one secure Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute, Consent or custome , and his Regal State [ 640 ] Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd , Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own So as not either to provoke, or dread New warr , provok't ; our better part remains [ 645 ] To work in close design, by fraud or guile What force effected not: that he no less At length from us may find, who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife [ 650 ] There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long Intended to create , and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven: Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps [ 655 ] Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: For this Infernal Pit shall never hold Cælestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird , [ 660 ] For who can think Submission? Warr then, Warr Open or understood must be resolv'd.

He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim ; the sudden blaze [ 665 ] Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on thir sounding Shields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n .

There stood a Hill not far whose griesly top [ 670 ] Belch'd fire and rowling smoak ; the rest entire Shon with a glossie scurff , undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic Ore, The work of Sulphur. Thither wing'd with speed A numerous Brigad hasten'd . As when Bands [ 675 ] Of Pioners with Spade and Pickax arm'd Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field, Or cast a Rampart. Mammon led them on, Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From heav'n , for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts [ 680 ] Were always downward bent , admiring more The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold, Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd In vision beatific : by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, [ 685 ] Ransack'd the Center , and with impious hands Rifl'd the bowels of thir mother Earth For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Op'nd into the Hill a spacious wound And dig'd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire [ 690 ] That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame, [ 695 ] And Strength and Art are easily out-done By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toyle And hands innumerable scarce perform. Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepar'd , [ 700 ] That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluc'd from the Lake, a second multitude With wondrous Art found out the massie Ore, Severing each kind, and scum'd the Bullion dross: A third as soon had form'd within the ground [ 705 ] A various mould , and from the boyling cells By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook, As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths . Anon out of the earth a Fabrick huge [ 710 ] Rose like an Exhalation, with the sound Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a Temple, where Pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid With Golden Architrave ; nor did there want [ 715 ] Cornice or Freeze , with bossy Sculptures grav'n, The Roof was fretted Gold . Not Babilon , Nor great Alcairo such magnificence Equal'd in all thir glories, to inshrine Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat [ 720 ] Thir Kings, when Ægypt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxurie . Th' ascending pile Stood fixt her stately highth , and strait the dores Op'ning thir brazen foulds discover wide Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth [ 725 ] And level pavement: from the arched roof Pendant by suttle Magic many a row Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude [ 730 ] Admiring enter'd , and the work some praise And some the Architect: his hand was known In Heav'n by many a Towred structure high, Where Scepter'd Angels held thir residence, And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King [ 735 ] Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his Hierarchie , the Orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unador'd In ancient Greece ; and in Ausonian land Men call'd him Mulciber ; and how he fell [ 740 ] From Heav'n , they fabl'd , thrown by angry Jove Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve, A Summers day; and with the setting Sun Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star, [ 745 ] On Lemnos th' Ægean Ile: thus they relate , Erring; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now To have built in Heav'n high Towrs ; nor did he scape By all his Engins , but was headlong sent [ 750 ] With his industrious crew to build in hell. Mean while the winged Haralds by command Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim A solemn Councel forthwith to be held [ 755 ] At Pandæmonium , the high Capital Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call'd From every Band and squared Regiment By place or choice the worthiest; they anon With hunderds and with thousands trooping came [ 760 ] Attended: all access was throng'd , the Gates And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall (Though like a cover'd field, where Champions bold Wont ride in arm'd , and at the Soldans chair Defi'd the best of Paynim chivalry [ 765 ] To mortal combat or carreer with Lance) Thick swarm'd , both on the ground and in the air, Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive [ 770 ] In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank, The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel , New rub'd with Baum , expatiate and confer Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd [ 775 ] Swarm'd and were straitn'd ; till the Signal giv'n . Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons Now less then smallest Dwarfs , in narrow room Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race [ 780 ] Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves, Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while over-head the Moon Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth [ 785 ] Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms Reduc'd thir shapes immense, and were at large, [ 790 ] Though without number still amidst the Hall Of that infernal Court. But far within And in thir own dimensions like themselves The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat [ 795 ] A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seats, Frequent and full. After short silence then And summons read, the great consult began.

Paradise Lost

By john milton, paradise lost summary and analysis of books i-iii.

Book I of Paradise Lost begins with Milton describing what he intends to undertake with his epic: the story of Man's first disobedience and the "loss of Eden," subjects which have been "unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." His main objective, however, is to "justify the ways of God to men."

The poem then shifts to focus on the character of Satan who has just fallen from heaven. The scene opens in a fiery, yet dark, lake of hell. Satan, dazed, seems to be coming to consciousness after his fall and finds himself chained to the lake.

He lifts his head to see his second in command, Beelzebub , the Lord of the Flies , who has been transformed from a beautiful archangel into a horrid fallen angel. Satan gets his bearings and, in a speech to Beelzebub, realizes what has just happened: Satan, presuming that he was equal to God, had declared war on the creator. Many angels had joined Satan, and the cosmic battle had shaken God's throne.

Satan and his cohorts had lost and been cast "nine times the space that measures day and night" to hell. Still, Satan tells Beelzebub that all is not lost. He will never bow down to God and now, knowing more of the extent of God's might, the rebel angels might better know how to continue to fight him in an eternal war.

Beelzebub questions why they themselves still exist. What plan did God have for them since he did not kill them completely, but left them their souls and spirits intact to feel pain in hell?

Satan replies that God indeed wanted to punish them by forcing them to languish in hell for eternity. But, he says, that means that they don't ever have to obey God again. In fact, Satan says, they must work to instill evil in all good things so as to always anger God.

Satan and Beelzebub gather their strength and fly off the fiery lake to firmer, though still fiery, ground. They look around at the dark wasteland that is hell, but Satan remains proud. "Better to reign in hell, then serve in heaven."

They see their army lying confused and vanquished in the fiery lake. Satan calls to them and they respond immediately. Satan gathers his closest twelve around him .

Music plays and banners fly as the army of rebel angels comes to attention, tormented and defeated but faithful to their general

They could not have known the extent of God's might, Satan tells them, but now they do know and can now examine how best to beat him. Satan has heard of a new kind of creation that God intends on making, called man. They will continue the war against heaven, but the battlefield will be within the world of mankind.

The army bangs their shields with their swords in loud agreement. The rebel angels then construct a Temple, a throne room, for their general and for their government, greater in grandeur than the pyramids or the Tower of Babylon.

All the millions of rebel angels then gather in the Temple for a great council, shrinking themselves and become dwarves in order to fit.

Milton tells us that he is tackling the story told in Genesis of the Fall of Adam and the loss of the Garden of Eden. With it, Milton will also be exploring a cosmic battle in heaven between good and evil. Supernatural creatures, including Satan and the Judeo Christian God himself, will be mixing with humans and acting and reacting with humanlike feelings and emotions. As in other poetic epics such as Homer's Iliad and Ulysses, the Popul Vuh, and Gilgamesh, Milton is actually attempting to describe the nature of man by reflecting on who his gods are and what his origins are. By demonstrating the nature of the beings who created mankind, Milton is presenting his, or his culture's , views on what good and evil mean, what mankind's relationship is with the Absolute, what man's destiny is as an individual and as a species. The story, therefore, can be read as a simple narrative, with characters interacting with each other along a plot and various subplots. It can also, however, be extrapolated out to hold theological and religious messages, as well as political and social themes.

Milton introduces Book I with a simple summary of what his epic poem is about: the Fall of Adam and the loss of the Garden of Eden. He tells us that his heavenly muse is the same as that of Moses, that is, the spirit that combines the absolute with the literary. The voice is of a self-conscious narrator explaining his position. There is some background in the past tense, then suddenly the reader finds himself in the present tense on a fiery lake in hell. The quiet introduction, the backing into the story, then the verb change and plunge into the middle of the action, in medias res, creates a cinematic and exciting beginning.

On this lake we meet Satan, general and king of the fallen rebel angels.

Milton's portrait of Satan has fascinated critics since Paradise Lost's publication, leading some in the Romantic period to claim that Satan is, in fact, the heroic protagonist of the whole work. Certainly Milton's depiction of Satan has greatly influenced the devil's image in Western art and literature since the book's publication.

The reader first meets a stunned Satan chained down to a fiery lake of hell, surrounded by his coconspirators. In this first chapter, the reason for his downfall is that he thought himself equal to God. Hell, however, has not taught him humility, and, in fact, strengthens his revolve to never bow to the Almighty (Interestingly, the word "God" is not used in the chapters dealing with Hell and Satan).

Satan is often called a sympathetic character in Paradise Lost, despite being the source of all evil, and in the first chapter the reader is presented with some of Satan's frustration. Satan tells his army that they were tricked, that it wasn't until they were at battle that God showed the true extent of his almightiness. If they had been shown this force previously, not only would the rebel angels not have declared war on heaven, but Satan, also, would never have presumed that he himself was better than God. Now they have been irreversibly punished for all eternity, but, rather than feel sorry for themselves or repent, Satan pushes his army to be strong, to make "a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

Hell reflecting heaven and, later, earth reflecting both, will be a common theme throughout the work. Satan chooses twelve close friends: all of them drawn from pagan mythology or from foreign kings in the Hebrew Bible: to echo and mimic Christ's twelve apostles. Satan's angels build a large a glorious temple and call a council, both of which will be echoed in heaven. In fact, Satan uses the same architect as heaven, now called Mammon in hell.

Many of the structures and symbols are similar. In heaven and hell there is a king and a military hierarchy of angels. In most cases, however, they the reverse of each other. In Book I, we are shown that the most prominent thing about hell is its darkness, whereas heaven is full of luminous light. As well, the fallen angels, previously glorious and beautiful, are now ugly and disfigured.

These mirror, and therefore reverse, images of heaven and hell also work on a theological level. The darkness of hell symbolizes the distance Satan and his army are from the luminous light and grace of God. Simultaneously, the rebel angels pulled away from God by their actions and are forced away by God himself, outside of all the blessings and glory that come with God's light and into the pain and suffering that comes with distance away from him. The physical corruption and disfigurement that occurs to all the fallen angels is symbolic of the corruption which has occurred in their souls.

Hell itself is described as a belching unhealthy body, whose "womb" will be torn open to expose the "ribs" of metal ore that are necessary to build Satan's temple. Natural occurrences in hell, such as the metaphor of the eclipsed sun, are symbols of natural, and therefore spiritual, decay.

Psychological motivations also work in reverse in hell. Hell is punishment for turning away from the Good, but instead of learning his lesson, Satan becomes more stubborn and more proud. While heaven is a place where all are turned toward the good and toward pleasing and obeying God, Satan makes hell a place turned away from God and turned deliberately toward displeasing him. Whereas before falling from heaven, Satan was only guilty of presuming to be greater than God (pride), now Satan has, in fact, become a creator himself. He has created evil: the direction away from God.

Other critics have examined the political implications of Milton's hell. Like Dante's hell, the characters and institutions in Milton's hell are often subtle references to political issues in Milton's day. The Temple of Satan, for example, has been thought to symbolize St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, the "capitol" of Roman Catholicism and home of the Pope. The comparison of the glory of hell to the light of an eclipsed sun was thought to be a veiled critique of the Sun King, King Charles, who reigned during Milton's time.

A full understanding of the metaphors and images that Milton uses, however, would take more than a knowledge of his contemporary history or religious background. Describing Satan's kingdom, Milton takes from a myriad of sources, including Greek mythology and epic poetry, Egyptian and Canaanite religious traditions, the Hebrew Bible and Mishnaic texts, the New Testament and apocryphal texts, the Church Fathers, popular legends, and other theological texts.

It should be noted that, in the epic tradition, Milton is using poetry to tell his story, following most prominently the style of Homer. The work, therefore, can also be examined through the lens of poetry with an eye toward rhythm and sound. In the first sentence, Milton uses an alliteration to conduct what is referred to as a double discourse: "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree..." Not only does the repeated "f" sound add to the aesthetic of the sentence, it connects the "f" words to present a different idea than the sentence itself is presenting. In this case, "first... fruits" are "forbidden." This double discourse, literally two sentences spoken at the same time, is repeated throughout Milton.

Satan has drawn all the fallen angels into a large counsel in his Temple, perched on a volcano top. He addresses them to give them courage. After all, he says, they need not fear ever falling again. He asks for suggestion on how best to continue battling heaven.

Moloch stands up and suggests open warfare on the battlefield. They have nothing to lose, he says, there is no hell worse than this that God can send them if defeated. Even if God kills them, surely this would be better than living in hell forever. Finally, he says, even if they are defeated, "... if not victory is yet revenge."

Belial stands and disagrees. Even if God could kill them, he said, he never would. And there just might be worse hells than where they are now. It is a useless action anyway, he says, because God sees everything and would know exactly what they are doing. Belial suggests that they stay in hell and hope that God either relents on the punishment, or that they will, over time, grow used to the obnoxious fumes and pain.

Mammon stands up and says that neither idea is really acceptable. Open warfare would be an exercise in futility and, even if they were allowed back in heaven, is that a place where they want to spend eternity serving? It is better to live in hell where God's light never interferes. Mammon suggest no war at all, just build a kingdom where they are, and maybe someday they will have a kingdom that will be equal to heaven's .

The crowd cheers at Mammon's speech.

Beelzebub stands and tells the crowd that this will not do either. There is no place where God does not reign, he reigns even here in hell though his presence is not seen as easily. So it is silly, he says, to talk about war and peace when they will be eternally opposed to God and his kingdom, whether they like it or not. "War hath determined us."

Beelzebub then tells them of a new race that God has created called "Man." Man is not as powerful as the angels, but he is God's chosen favorite among creations. Beelzebub suggests that they seek revenge against God by seducing Man to their side.

All of the fallen angels agree unanimously to this decision. Satan asks for a volunteer to find out more about this creation, but none volunteer. They are all afraid of the chasm, called chaos, that lies between hell and the island of earth. Satan then says that he himself will go.

Hell is described. It has a geography like earth, with rivers and mountains, but "where all life dies, death lives and nature breeds, perverts, all monstrous, and all prodigious things." Hell is all the worst of nature: natural disasters, violent streams and volcanoes, unfriendly seas, darkness.

Satan flies to the gates of hell where he meets two beings guarding the gate. One is Sin , half woman, half serpent with group of hell hounds howling around her. The other is Death , a large black shape that stands in front of Satan, blocking his path. Satan knocks him down by throwing pestilence and war at him.

Sin scolds Satan, and tells him that she is his daughter, born in heaven when Satan first thought of rebelling. Later, they were lovers in heaven and she and Satan produced Death, their son. (As an aside, Death raped Sin and produced the hell hounds which surround her forever.)

Satan tells them he is trying to get out of hell to find earth. If he finds it, and there is a race called man, then the three of them can rule it together and Death's hunger will never be satiated.

Sin opens the gates of hell, which now can never be shut, and they gaze at the abyss of Night and Chaos.

Satan flies for a time in the darkness and then comes to the throne of Chaos and his consort, Night. Satan tells him he is only passing through, trying to find earth.

Chaos tells him the way to earth, which is connected to heaven by a golden chain.

With each of the demon's proposals to fight heaven, we see a reflection a number of different worldly concepts of good and evil, heaven and hell. Milton, with the devils, has his own idea of how good and evil is balanced and, with the devils, refute the others as impossible.

These constructs include: an eternal war between good and evil (seen in folk religions where evil spirits must be warded off by good spirits), evil's submission to good and hope of redemption (seen in new age concepts that all things are, in their essence, good), and the opposite yet equal kingdoms of good and evil (seen in Eastern religions with the Yin/Yang concepts). All these suggestions do not work for the devils, and, Milton is suggesting, they do not work theologically either.

First, there can be no all out, open warfare between heaven and hell, because it would be an exercise in futility. Despite the logic of Moloch's proposal, Heaven and goodness will always be more powerful than evil, there is no battle.

Second, evil will never go away. The fallen angels will always exist, they will never be forgiven, they will never be accepted back by God.

Finally, there can be no peace between heaven and earth, as Mammon suggests. Hell will exist, but it will not be an equal empire to heaven. Evil will exist, but it will not be equal to good. There is no yin/yan equality here. Evil, though the furthest from God, is still under God's reign.

The battlefield, as Beelzebub suggests, will be moved to the souls of mankind. The theory of the human soul as an eternal battlefield between good and evil forces reflects a common element of the theology of Milton's time. There, on a sort of neutral ground away from heaven and hell, evil angels can battle against good angels in a field which makes them nearly equal.

This particular concept we see reflected even today when cartoons are drawn of the devil and the good angel whispering into the left and right sides of a character's ear. Revenge of the fallen angels will be taken out against man, though Milton is suggesting that in the end good will win over.

The description of hell as a geographical place has physical properties that we find in our own world, and we will later find in the description of heaven. There are mountains, valleys, rivers, and seas. The difference between hell and earth, and especially hell and heaven, is that hell has the worst of nature. Milton emphasizes the awful, inescapable smells of hell, the raging "perpetual storms," the rivers with their "waves of torrent fire." By drawing hell as nature gone wrong, Milton also attempts to answer the age-old question of why, if God created this beautiful earth, does it sometimes seem to go against us. Why is there famine, flood, and fire that kill and destroy? Milton demonstrates that these events are nature perverted, nature not as it was intended to be. These events were caused by the creation of hell and evil after Satan's fall.

Contrast, however, the geography of hell with the geography of Chaos and Night. The Chaos is ruled over by "Rumour next and Chance, And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled." In Chaos there is true darkness. Milton compares the situation in Chaos to a nation embroiled in a civil war on a macro scale, to a man paralyzed by indecision and loss of reason on a micro scale. Hell, at least, is contained and is actually ruled by a some sort of law. There is a king and a temple, there are actual visible geographical locales. But in chaos there is no order, one can fall forever (as Satan almost did) in a dark ocean of nothingness. On the other hand, the Chaos is not evil. It is not a perversion of good or of nature. It is land where nothing holds. It is from this Chaos, as is told in the Genesis story, that heaven and earth are created, and where God creates light.

Finally, in this book we are introduced to the first of a number of parrallel trinities that Milton will compare and contrast. The unholy trinity introduced at the end of Book II consist of Satan, his consort/daughter Sin, and his only son, Death. Their relationship is based on lust: Satan raped his daughter Sin and they had Death. Death later raped his mother Sin and she gave birth to the hell hounds that now suround her. Note that Satan tries to kill his only son, Death, when he first approaches the gates of hell. This will contrast with the circumstances that will surround God sacrificing his only son in later books.

The personificaiton of concepts, in this case Death and Sin, was a common literary tool in Milton's time, seen most prominently in Spencer's " The Faerie Queene ," which greatly influenced Milton's own work.

God sees Satan heading toward the world and points him out to his Son, sitting on his right hand. He tells his son how Satan is going to tempt man and how man is then going to fall.

"Ingrate," God says of man. "He had of me all he could have; I made him just and right, sufficient to have stood, though free to fall."

Even though God knows man will fall, as opposed to Satan, man will still have the chance to gain God's grace, since he was led to evil by Satan. Satan, on the other hand, freely choose evil without any temptations. God says, then, that there will be a chance for God's grace for mankind, but that mankind will always be cursed with Death.

His Son, of course, offers to die for man, "I for his sake will leave Thy bosom," he says. And then the Son will come back and conquer death himself.

God then agrees, and tells of how his Son will be born to a virgin and die so that God's favorite creation, man, will live. God then makes him the king of man, son of both man and God. God tells the angels in heaven to bow to him.

The scene switches back to Satan who has arrived in the Limbo of Vanity and the Paradise of Fools, the place where all men and nature go who have vain hopes of achieving heaven while on earth by pursuing riches or superstitions. The Limbo of Vanity, in fact, will soon be filled with "hoods and habits... relics, beads, indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls." Here Satan paces on semi solid land.

Satan sees also the Gate to Heaven and the stairway to the gate. As well, there is a large passageway, though it will soon be made smaller, that brings angels down to God's creatures on earth.

Satan flies up to the sun where he can see all of creation. He spies Uriel, one of God's angels, guarding the earth. Satan turns himself into a cute little cherub and asks Uriel where this new creature of God's is so that he may go and admire it

Uriel is impressed that an angel would want to leave heaven to check out God's creation, and he directs Satan to man's home in Paradise.

Milton introduces the character of God and Son with preparatory phrases of praise, almost a hymn, describing the nature of God and heaven. From stanzas 1-55, Milton uses the idea of light to represent this nature. Alternately, light is used to describe God himself, the first born Son, the immortality of God, the glory of God, grace, truth, wisdom, and physical light. Heaven is a place, then, full of light but much of it is an invisible light, i.e. the light of wisdom, that man cannot perceive in the same manner as physical light but which works in the same way.

The reader is introduced to the characters of God and his Son, watching Satan from the heavens. The Trinity of God, Son, and Holy Spirit (the one who is inspiring Milton to write) is juxtaposed against the evil Trinity of Satan, Death, and Sin, a relationship originating in lust. Milton relates love and goodness with reason and reason is clear in even a conversational sense in the holy trinity, between God and his Son. Corruption and evil, however, are tied to the irrational and thus to the unholy trinity. The raping of Sin by father and son, the battle between Satan and Death, all emphasis Milton's view on relationships based outside of God's grace.

Compare heaven's council with the one Satan had in hell. Heaven's council is a peaceful, rational conversation between God and his Son, both of whom seem to see and understand the same things. Decisions are made rationally given the circumstances that God's all-seeing eye can predict. Hell's council, on the other hand, argued and debated, their opinions clouded by the distance from goodness, which is here equivocated with reason. A path motivated by revenge, Milton is saying, is not one of right reason, and therefore is unpredictable.

Note, however, the reaction from the heavenly council when God asks if someone would volunteer to redeem man's moral crime. Just as it was when volunteers were asked for in hell to tempt man to fall, no one in heaven is willing to undertake the task of saving him. Finally, the Son volunteers which places him on a parallel with Satan. The implication is that, though God is all powerful, his Son and Satan are more on equal footing in that they can equally impact the destiny of man.

The concept of the Son of God conquering death comes from the Pauline letters in the New Testament, specifically First Corinthians. Because the Son of God cannot really die, his coming down from heaven and becoming fully human while at the same time fully God made it possible for him to experience death ,but then move through it to be resurrected. Through the resurrection, the theology goes, death no longer has the same grip it did before, it is not a permanent state merely a place that all men can now pass through.

Book III introduces the other settings of the epic as well, including heaven and earth, tied to each other with a golden chain and a passageway for angels to go down to earth and help with creation. Milton's universe is structured fairly simply: earth is in the middle, tied to heaven above it and a soon-to-be constructed bridge to hell leading below it. Between the earth and hell is Chaos. In concentric circles, or invisible globes surrounding earth, are the various orbits of the sun and moon, stars and planets around the earth (the earth is still in the middle).

Milton uses Limbo, or the Paradise of Fools, to make social criticism by demonstrating that examples of man's vanity that he saw in his era would find their end there. Thus, Limbo is full of indulgences and pardons, symbolic of the political machine behind the Catholic Church, as well as relics and beads, symbols of the superstitious nature of Catholic worshipers. Milton's point is that it is vain for man to think he can get into heaven by using these things. In fact, there is nothing man can do himself to get into heaven, he must rely completely on God's light. Those that use these religious trappings end up in a fake heaven, a Paradise of Fools.

Remembering always that Paradise Lost is a poem, note the structure of lines 56 through 79 as God looks down at his creation. God starts by seeing all the good things, including his creation of Adam and Eve . Then he pans over to hell and chaos, and finally to Satan himself flying toward Paradise. The paragraph gives equal time to nature as pure and nature as corrupted. Sentences in the middle of these two equal parts deal with love. Therefore, the subdialogue is that love is what divides corrupted nature from pure nature. This circular paragraph structure, with a discussion literally circulating around one theme (in this case love) is a poetic tool employed by Milton throughout the story.

Paradise Lost Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Paradise Lost is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

During his opening invocation (line 1-26) million use several refrence to locations in the Bible and to the "Aonian Mount" (line 15) where the Greek gods lived what is his purpose in doing so?

With his reference to “the Aonian mount,” or Mount Helicon in Greece , Milton deliberately invites comparison with Classical antecedents. He avers that his work will supersede these predecessors and will accomplish what has not yet been achieved: a...

Which devil (angel) is Satan’s second-in-command

That would be Beelzebub.

what is the symbolification of forbidden fruit?

The forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge symbolizes, as it does in the Old Testament, temptation and disobedience. When Satan leads Eve to the tree, he tempts her both with the taste of the fruit and with the argument that the fruit could...

Study Guide for Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost study guide contains a biography of John Milton, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Paradise Lost
• Paradise Lost Summary
• Character List

Essays for Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Paradise Lost.

• Humanism in Dante and Milton
• Does Homer's Achilles Improve On Acquaintance As You Read More of the Poem Whilst Milton's Satan Gets Worse?
• The Creator and the Created: The Figure of the Doubtful Ploughman in John Milton's Paradise Lost
• An Argument for Eve's Innocence in Paradise Lost
• Bonds of Liberty

Lesson Plan for Paradise Lost

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Paradise Lost
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Paradise Lost Bibliography

E-Text of Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost E-Text contains the full text of Paradise Lost

Wikipedia Entries for Paradise Lost

• Introduction
• Composition

Paradise Lost, Book 1

Back to: Paradise Lost Summary by John Milton

Table of Contents

Introduction

These notes have been prepared after going through some reference books and a number of online sources. Book 1 of the Paradise Lost by John Milton, written in blank verse, is divided into six sections and comprises of 798 lines.

• The first section (lines 1-26) contains the invocation and the purpose of writing.
• The second section (lines 27-83) gives a bird-eye view of consequences of the disobedience and the revolt and expulsion of Satan from Paradise.
• The third section (lines 84-282) contains the speeches between Satan and Beelzebub (his commander-in-chief)
• The fourth section (lines 283-621) gives a comprehensive detail of the demons accompanying the Satan.
• The fifth section (lines 622-669) contains the speeches of Satan to demons.
• The sixth section (lines 670-798) gives an overview of the construction of Pandemonium.

The poem Paradise Lost opens with an invocation and the poet explains the theme of his poem-first act of disobedience towards the God and then its consequences. Poet explains the story of Adam and Eve who ate the Fruit of Forbidden Tree that brought sorrow and death to human beings until Jesus came to the world and purified it again brought happiness back.

Now Milton invokes the Muse (source of mystical inspiration) to assist him divinely in giving voice to his purpose of writing (Milton calls it Adventurous Song). Milton’s muse is Holy Spirit which, in his views, makes his song superior to the others. According to Milton, his purpose of writing is to “ assert Eternal Providence and justifie the wayes of God to men.”

In section 2, Milton moves from prayer to the disobedience of Adam and Eve that occurred because of the serpent (i.e. Satan) that made them be expelled from the Heaven. Poet then moves to an event before Adam and Eve. Satan who was Lucifer, an angel, who along with his companions considered himself “ to have equal’d the most High” and rebelled against the God.

A war started between God and Satan, in which the latter was defeated and thrown out of Heaven into Hell along with his companions who are now demons. All the demons including Satan remain “ rowling in the fiery Gulfe ” i.e. the fire for nine days.

Around them is “ dungeon horrible” and fire flames. Poet describes the scene of Hell which he calls Choas. Satan ultimately regains the conscious and “ with bold words breaking the horrid silence” speaks to Beelzebub.

It comprises of speeches between Satan and Beelzebub. Satan, breaking the prolonged silence says to Beelzebub, “O how fall’n! how chang’d from him, who in the happy Realms of Light Clothed with transcendent brightness didst out-shine.”

He mourns over their defeat and expulsion from the Heaven but does not repent his rebellion and calls his dare “injured merit” . He says that in spite of being defeated he still has “unconquerable will”, “revenge”, “immortal hate” , and “courage”.  He also acknowledges the fact that God cannot be defeated and suggests that they should find an alternate way to deal with Him who “hold the Tyranny of Heaven.”

At this Beelzebub speaks up. Acknowledging the Satan’s dare to rebel against God, he says that they are now “in endless misery”. According to him, God has left “ to suffer and support our pains.” Satan replies, “ to do ought good never will be our task, but ever to do ill.” If God does something good, their business will be to make bad of it. He suggests moving to a nearby plain so as to discuss the war that they are supposed to wage against.

“Better to reign in Hell, then to serve in Heaven” 

Seeing the lethargic devils, Satan speaks out,

He again commands, “Awake, arise, or be for even fall in”  Hearing the command, they quickly stand up and, as if they have been caught up napping while on duty. All of them assembled near Satan. They come one by one. Some of them are Moloch, Chemos, Astarte, Thammuz, Dagon, Rimmon, Osiris, Iris, Orus and Belial.

As an army of devils gathers around the Satan, he praises them by calling them ‘Myraids of immortal Spirits” and “Powers Matchless” . He asks them to not worry and encourages them to rise up again. He tells them, though they will rise again, they won’t be able to fight against God in the same way.

This time they should use “ fraud” and “ guile” . Satan mentions some rumor that God is going to create man and thus their task will be to mess with him. All the demons “to confirm his words, out-flew millions of flames surrounds.”

Soon after the speech, the army of demons under the command of the materialistic Mammon , start digging the ground and bring out gold and other costly minerals.

With their super-power, they construct a great chamber called Pandemonium (by Milton meaning all demons). Thousands of demons shrink to fit inside it and then “ After short silence then and summons read, the great consult began.”

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Satan’s first Speech: “Paradise Lost”, Analysis

Satan’s first speech in Paradise Lost is a reflection of pure Miltonic Lyricism. The first speech showed the leadership quality and apostasy of Satan. Satan encourages and motivates his followers, (Fallen Angels), to stand against God. In the opening line of the speech, he shows wonders about the changes found in Beelzebub.

He feels ashamed to accept the power of God; reminds Beelzebub of the glory in heaven and compares it to present sorrows. He believed that God insulted his esteem and promised to not change his nasty mind against God. 

As for the battle, it has been an equal match and the issue is uncertain. It is not their want of merit but God's new and secret weapon that won the war. Throughout the speech, Satan uses rhetorical figures like Irony that make it impressive. His historical "high disdain" and "sense of injured merit" have overtones of the ludicrous. It seems weak and childish. 

Satan's first speech revolves around;

Being Immortal

Eternal War against God

Ego and Pride

Satan keeps encouraging his followers by saying that just one match doesn’t decide who the winner is. So Satan defies the power of God and did not accept the victory of God. We lost just one match does not mean that we lost everything.

What though the field be lost?

All is not lost, the unconquerable will,

And the study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield,

And what is else not to be overcome?

Satan shows excessive pride and ego. These lines contain a ray of hope and Satan seemed to be more optimistic. He denied accepting his loss. He states that bowing down before God is more shameful than defeat. The last part of the speech shows his inability to do anything except regret his excruciating life. Throughout the speech, there are no commandments or actions to follow except hate and revenge against God.  

Read also, Satan's Second Speech Summary

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Paradise Lost

Contents in the Article

“Paradise Lost”

Summary of the Poem

The fallen Archangel Satan said then, “Is this the place, the soil or hot climate that we must have in exchange for Heaven? Should we have this sad darkness of Hell in place of the Region of Heavenly light? Let it be so, God who is the sovereign ruler can decide what is right and wrong and can order us as he wishes to live at great distance from happy fields of Heaven is best for us, for we are His equals in reasoning power but in physical strength. He is far superior to us. Hence we take farewell of the happy fields of heaven where joy dwells for ever, and welcome Hell with all its horrors O deepest hell, receive your new occupant or new King Satan who bring with him a mind not to be affected by place or time. The mind is free and is not affected by external world. It lives within itself and can make a heaven of Hell and Hell of Heaven. It does not, therefore matter, where I do live-in Hell or Heaven, if I am less powerful than God because the use of thunder as weapon has made Him physically stronger than I am -Here in Hell we shall be free and God has not built anything here, for possessing which He may envy us. Therefore He will not expel us from Hell. Here we may rule safely and in my opinion to rule is worthy of ambition, though it may be in Hell. It is better to reign in Hell than to serve God in Heaven.

Why should we then let our loyal friends, companions and partners of our loss lie so stupefied and confounded on this fiery lake that cause them to forget everything ? Why should we not call them to share with us the suffering in this gloomy and unhappy place? We should once again try, with our re-assembled armies, to regain whatever may be given in Hell. Satan spoke in manner, and Beelzebub answered. “Leader of those bright armies of fallen angles which could have been defeated by none but the all powerful God. If once they hear your voice which is their sure promise of hope of success in fearful and dangerous moments, and which they have heard so often in the times of great peril, or on the frontline of battle when the battle was in full swing, and which was the signal of their sure success, they will soon regain new courage and strength. Though, at present, they are lying low in shame and prostrate on the lake of fire there, as in a state of confusion and astonishment a little while ago we lay, no doubt, having fallen from such a fearful height of Heaven.

Explanation of Paradise Lost (Line by Line)

Be it so…………..above his equals..

Reference to Context- These lines form the part of the third speech of Satan in Book I of Paradise Lost written by John Milton. The main characters of his epic are God, Adam, Eve and Christ.

Explanation- Satan uplifts his bulky from the lake of fire with flames on both the sides, Satan and Beelzebub exult on their escape from the fiery lake. Satan observes the sad dark region of hell and reconciles himself to the change from Heaven to Hell. The dark and miserable Hell is no doubt a worse place than heaven but nothing can be done. God is now supreme since. He has won the battle therefore, he has the power to command them and he can decide what is right and what is wrong.

The fallen angels have no choice but to accept whatever treatment is given to them by God. It is now the best thing for them to be at a great distance from God. Satan claims that he and his companions are the equals of God in respect of wisdom bit is only in respect of His force-or His use of thunder arms that he has supremacy over them and His victory is due to His superior force.

Critical Comments―

• Satan seems to be compromising with his fate to a very small extent.
• He accepts God’s supremacy though he belittles it by saying that He is superior to him and his companions only by the use of thunder‑ physical strength but not in respect of wisdom or reason.
• He is depressed that he has lost the blissful seat of heaven.

Farewell happy…………….. Hell of Heaven

Reference to Context- These lines are taken from the speech of Satan in Milton’s great epic Paradise Lost, Book I. Satan is shocked that he and his comrades have been thrown in Hell with a lake of burning fire. He says to Beelzebub that he should accept this miserable, unhappy region of Hell in place of heaven because God by his superior physical strength has got victory over him and his companions, and so He can take decisions about their life. Like a wise politician he accepts God’s superiority after His victory and attributes to him arbitrary power over them and he makes the best of the worst situations.

Explanation― Satan bids farewell to the happy region of Heaven with a heavy and painful heart, and welcome Hell with all its horrible torments and the tortures. In Heaven joy lives for even while in Hell it is only misery and horror that reigon, but Satan has to accept this infernal region of Hell out of compulsion. Then he feels, consoled, that, at least, here in hell he is the sole supreme ruler or leader is there is no other power as mighty as God to defeat or equal him. It has ever been his wish to rule and not to submit and surrender and this keen desire of his will be satisfied here in Hell. Satan has been changed in the dimmed outward glory of his body after the fall, but his mind his not changed by his being in Hell, nor it is changed by the change of his time, as in Heaven he had happy days while in Hells he has bad days. He feels that it is the mind or thinking that makes situation happy or unhappy. It is the attitude of mind that matters, neither the place nor the time. The mind is always free from the external circumstances. He means to say that happiness or misery is not conditioned by circumstances in which one lives, but the attitude of one’s mind. The mind has the capacity to make itself supreme over circumstances. The mind has the power to derive happiness from the sorrowful conditions and if the mind is weak it feels miserable even in the happiest circumstances.

• Satan seems to be a tragic hero. He is tortured by the torments of Hell but is not dispirited and maintains his unyielding courage. He shows heroic power of endurance.
• These lines are rhetoric with underlying irony.
• These is an elegiac note in these lines.

Here we may………..………………in Heaven.

Reference to Context- Those lines have been extracted from Satan’s speech in Milton’s Paradise Lost, Book I. Satan, who is very ambitious or too much ambitious like Macbeth, feels a little satisfied that he is the sole ruler of Hell. He realizes that there is escape for from Hell accepts his fate in Hell with the consolation that the mind is free from external circumstances and with such a mind that he possesses, he will make his life happy even in Hell and the miseries of Hell will not affect him.

Explanation- Satan says to Beelzebub that it does not matter where he has to love, and what tortures he has to face, if he retains his unchanged mind full of pride, courage and endurance. Here in Hell Satan will be free and reign safely without any danger from God. Hell is far inferior to Heaven so God will not interfere in Hell and will not throw him and his crew from here. Here they may rule for ever without any fear. According to Satan it is a good ambition to rule, even through one is given a change to rule in Hell. Satan is ambitious of being a ruler and his ambition will be fulfilled here. It is immaterial if he rules in Heaven or Hell, as it is better to rule in Hell than to be employed as a slave to Heaven or Hell, as it is better to rule in hell than to be employed as a slave to do errands or jobs for God in heaven. To be a slave is worse and more miserable than to be a rule― where or on whom to rule is immaterial.

• Satan’s high ambitions are revealed in these lines. For him it is better to rule in Hell -a place full of horrors and pains than to serve God in Heaven which is a region of everlasting happiness.
• He is quite wise known that Hell is such a painful place that God will not envy it and so he will not come here to interfere the sovereignty of Satan in Hell.
• He is there quite safe and secure here.

English Literature― Important Links

• Development of English poetry since the age of Shakespeare
• Important Forms of poetry in English (Narrative, Lyrical, Sonnet etc.)
• Sonnet 29- When, in disgrace with fortune (William Shakespeare)
• SONNET 138- When my love swears (Analysis and Explanation)
• Critical review of Sonnet Writing of William Shakespeare
• “The Canonization” by John Donne- Summary & Line by line Explanation
• Critical appreciation of ‘The Canonisation’ (Poem by John Donne)
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Home / Poetry / Satan’s Character in Paradise Lost Book 1 | Character Analysis

Satan’s Character in Paradise Lost Book 1 | Character Analysis

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Introduction, character sketch of satan’s character in book 1 of paradise lost, satan’s attributes in book 1 of paradise lost, characteristics of satan’s character in book 1 of paradise lost, a great leader , brave commander, ambitious hero, avail opportunities, indomitable courage, rebellious nature, john milton in satan’s character in book 1 of paradise lost, conclusion:.

Characterization is the most important ingredient of an epic poem . In order to match the level of Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey, John Milton creates Satan’s character, a detailed description of which he gives in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. He sketches his character in a way that it really seems like an epic poem. Milton illustrates his character minutely; he gives him powers, motivation, leadership qualities; a will to never give up and courage to fight with God. Satan is the first character with whom the readers are firstly introduced. Remaining characters come after Satan. It is not only remarkable but also a unique character ever created in the history of English literature. 

Milton gives each character superpowers but there is no match for Satan’s character in his pride and dignity despite the fact that he has been often criticised for being negative and the villain of Paradise Lost as obvious from Book 1. It is pertinent to mention here that the majority of the critics agree on the point that it is Milton himself in the guise of Satan in Paradise Lost. Certain characteristics that readers find in Satan were there in Milton as obvious from his autobiography. He has a rebellious attitude and several attributes that are common in the author of the book. 

From the very beginning of the poem just after the traditional invocation and introduction of the theme of the epic poem, the poet introduces us with a fallen hero. His name is Satan. It should be remembered that the poet first gives a mental sketch of his character and then he proceeds with describing his physical appearance. He mentions his will to fight back, his plan to regain his lost position and then describes his physique.

It seems that initially he is not permitted to move; however, subsequently he is freed from chains. The poet uses a simile, a poetic device to compare things in order to create imagination in the minds of the readers. He uses the word Leviathan in description of his monstrous size. In Jewish mythology, Leviathan is a sea serpent. It is believed that God has created him to show his powers of creation. John Milton has good knowledge of different myths, hence, he makes allusions to different books and myths to show the figure of the main character of his epic poem.

The poet further goes on to say something more about Satan’s character in Book 1 of Paradise Lost; he makes allusions to Titans, who in Greek myths were 20 to 30 feet tall. He creates a strong image in the minds of his readers; however, one must have knowledge of Greek, Jewish myths and Bible before understanding what he tries to say. Nevertheless, the poet writes more about him and sketches him at the time when he moves. He mentions his heavy, large and round shield that is like a moon and his spear like the longest pine tree on the earth that he used to hang on his shoulders while waking.

He remains unconscious along with his fellow angels for nine days and nine nights if we count the number of days and nights on earth. The author discloses his readers the first attribute of Satan that he is immortal; therefore, he has not died. Secondly, the poet gives us a brief introduction of his history that he was destined to incur God’s anger. Soon after he becomes conscious, he realises his loss. He is in pain; however, it never means that he would soon accept defeat. In hell, there is silence everywhere but he breaks the ice and addresses his army like a general. 

He asks his fellow angels to rise and remember who they were once; though he makes them aware of their miserable condition, he also tells them that they were once great heroes. Here we find leadership as one of the most discussed attributes of Satan’s character in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. He also makes them clear that he would never accept defeat. Milton very beautifully sketches his will to fight back in following lines:-

He does not want to ask forgiveness from the Almighty but wishes to fight back. He wants revenge and it is the only ambition that he has. As he and his fellow angels know that they are immortal, hence, he tells them that they have two choices; either to suffer or to rise and fight back for what was once theirs. One of the most referred line of Book 1 of Paradise Lost regarding Satan’s pride is:

This single line of Book 1 of Paradise Lost sums up Satan’s character. It shows his pride, his unending will power to fight back, his bravery and ambition of never giving up achieving what he deserves. 

There are some attributes of Satan that the readers of the book find out. Those are:

• A great leader
• Brave commander
• Ambitious hero
• Never Settle on less than he deserves
• Rebellious nature

John Milton portrays Satan as a great leader. His speeches are evident that neither he gives up on his ambitions nor does he let down the morale of his army. He is courageous, self-confident and determined to his plans. From the very beginning when he speaks and breaks the silences, readers realise his leadership qualities. He answers every question with confidence that Beelzbub asks him. It seems that he has inherited the best leadership qualities. He seems like a politician of modern days who always has a satisfactory answer to every question. Furthermore, he is a powerful, inspirational and motivational speaker.

He shows his sympathy with his fellow angels. All speeches of Satan reveals that he shows himself not different to his fellow angels and indicates himself one of them. He has clever skills of moulding the minds of his army. Flattery, making propaganda mixed with threats are also some other important leadership qualities of Satan’s character in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. 

He has been illustrated as a wicked general and a brave commander. He wants to remain a commander forever, hence, he says that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Satan knows that he has less powers yet he wants to fight back with the help of fallen angels. He does everything to boost their morale. He, like a general, plans operations for them. 

The Hero of Paradise Lost remained controversial between the critics; some say that Satan is the hero whereas others regard Adam as the main hero of the poem. It is also a matter of fact that if Adam is the hero of Paradise Lost then he is actionless. Most of the action of the poem has been associated with Satan’s character and that too in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. He has an ambition to gain what he has lost. He cannot compromise on less, hence, he does everything he can to regain his lost position. Following line describes him as an ambitious hero:

Satan knows the weaknesses of others and always finds an opportunity to discover more. He avails every opportunity that he has to avenge his enemies. He goes to Eve in the guise of a serpent and flatters her beauty. As we all know that flattery is one of his best leadership qualities; therefore, he flatters her and tempts her to eat the forbidden apple. 

William Blake observes Satan and mentions that Milton belongs to the devil party. He further mentions that Milton has glorified Satan’s character especially in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. Critics are of the view that good qualities should be attributed to the hero instead of bad ones, hence, Milton has not done poetic justice while writing his epic poem. He creates such a character that has an unyielding courage. He never loses hope nor does he give up on his ambitions. Besides, he is the most powerful character of Paradise Lost but he uses his powers to do the evil that gives a negative message to the readers. 

Milton has been discharged from this charge as Satan’s glorification is no more associated with him as hero but as a villain. John Milton justifies God’s ways. He never says that Satan is the hero of his book, rather he shows the possibility that a villain can be more powerful than the hero. Whatever may be the objection of the critics, it is sure that he creates Satan a character that has an indomitable courage.

Milton creates the rebellious nature of Satan in Paradise Lost. He is the only one who challenges the authority of the Almighty and rises in opposition as well as armed resistance against Him. This quality is certainly unique in his character. He does not accept the norms nor does he accept defeat. He does not settle matters on the basis of compromises but with battles. Needless to mention that he fails at the end and becomes a tragic hero of Paradise Lost. 

Critics and students of literature observe John Milton in Satan’s character in Book 1 of Paradise Lost. All the twelve books of Paradise Lost have autobiographical elements in them. Book 1 specifically reflects the personality of John Millton. Milton has also a spirit of a rebel who would not yield on any account. His autobiography reveals that he stood for freedom and sided with the Parliamentarians after opposing monarchy. Satan’s speeches are speeches of Milton in reality. He raises voice against the system and raised the slogan “Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” 

There is always subjectivity in every poem. Paradise Lost is also subjective to some extent but that does not mean John Milton was on the side of the devil party. He is a true poet who has completed an epic poem and has not sided with any party regardless of the evil characters that he has created. 

In Book 1 of Paradise Lost John Milton gives Satan’s character a heroic stature. Indeed, the figure of Satan seems to be inspired by the spirit of renaissance . He makes him unique; a character that was never created in history. In Book 1 of Paradise Lost, Milton gives Satan’s character epic attributes such as a great leader, brave general, a hero determined to his ambitions, a person who never settles on less than he deserves, a rebel and an indomitable courageous hero.

Paradise Lost

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