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John Milton |
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Paradise lost |
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Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the world and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till on greater Man Restore us and regain the blissful seat Sing, Heavenly Muse... Not a lot people know that 'Paradise Lost' has as a much lesser known companion piece 'Paradise Regained'; of course, it was true during Milton's time as it is today that the more harrowing and juicy the story, the better it will likely be remembered and received. |
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This is not to cast any aspersion on this great poem, however. It has been called, with some justification, the greatest English epic poem. The line above, the first lines of the first book of the poem, is typical of the style throughout the epic, in vocabulary and syntax, in allusiveness. The word order tends toward the Latinate, with the object coming first and the verb coming after. Milton follows many classical examples by personifying characters such as Death, Chaos, Mammon, and Sin. These characters interact with the more traditional Christian characters of Adam, Eve, Satan, various angels, and God. He takes as his basis the basic biblical text of the creation and fall of humanity (thus, 'Paradise Lost'), which has taken such hold in the English-speaking world that many images have attained in the popular mind an almost biblical truth to them (in much the same way that popular images of Hell owe much to Dante's Inferno). The text of Genesis was very much in vogue in the mid-1600s (much as it is today) and Paradise Lost attained an almost instant acclaim. John Milton was an English cleric, a protestant who nonetheless had a great affinity for catholic Italy, and this duality of interests shows in much of his creative writing as well as his religious tracts. Milton was nicknamed 'the divorcer' in his early career for writing a pamphlet that supported various civil liberties, including the right to obtain a civil divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, a very unpopular view for the day. Milton held a diplomatic post under the Commonwealth, and wrote defenses of the governments action, including the right of people to depose and dispose of a bad king. Paradise Lost has a certain oral-epic quality to it, and for good reason. Milton lost his eyesight in 1652, and thus had to dictate the poem to several different assistants. Though influenced heavily by the likes of Virgil, Homer, and Dante, he differentiated himself in style and substance by concentrating on more humanist elements. Say first -- for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell -- say first what cause Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state, Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator and transgress his will, For one restraint, lords of the world besides? Milton drops us from the beginning into the midst of the action, for the story is well known already, and proceeds during the course of the books (Milton's original had 10, but the traditional epic had 12 books, so some editions broke books VII and X into two books each) to both push the action forward and to give developing background -- how Satan came to be in Hell, after the war in heaven a description that includes perhaps the currently-most-famous line: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in hell, that serve in heav'n. (Impress your friends by knowing that this comes from Book I, lines 261-263 of Paradise Lost, rather than a Star Trek episode!) The imagery of warfare and ambition in the angels, God's wisdom and power and wrath, the very human characterisations of Adam and Eve, and the development beyond Eden make a very compelling story, done with such grace of language that makes this a true classic for the ages. The magnificence of creation, the darkness and empty despair of hell, the manipulativeness of evil and the corruptible innocence of humanity all come through as classic themes. The final books of the epic recount a history of humanity, now sinful, as Paradise has been lost, a history in tune with typical Renaissance renderings, which also, in Milton's religious convictions, will lead to the eventual destruction of this world and a new creation. A great work that takes some effort to comprehend, but yields great rewards for those who stay the course. |
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John Milton wrote essays, sonnets and, most importantly, Paradise Lost, considered by many scholars the greatest epic poem of the English language. Milton was a Londoner and received his education at Cambridge (1625-32), where he wrote his famous poem "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." During his career Milton was an active voice on contemporary issues of politics and religion, and during the English Civil War he sided with the anti-royalists under Oliver Cromwell. His rousing tracts supporting the Commonwealth -- which included an argument defending the execution of Charles I -- led to a position as a foreign secretary (1649). Milton somehow managed to escape serious punishment after the restoration of the monarchy (1660) and lived the remainder of his life quietly. Blind after 1652, he dictated the entirety of Paradise Lost (1667), the story of Satan's rebellion (and defeat) and the fall of Adam and Eve. Four years later he published the story of Christ's triumph over Satan's temptations in Paradise Regained and the drama Samson Agonistes. His other famous writings include the masque Comus (1637), a defense of free speech titled Areopagiticaz (1644) and several sonnets, including "On His Blindness" ("When I consider how my light is spent") and "On His Deceased Wife" ("Methought I saw my late espoused saint"). |
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